Soldado to the rescue

Roberto Soldado gives the victory with a fabulous hat trick

A dramatic late double strike saw Roberto Soldado complete a hat-trick as Valencia beat Racing Santander 4-3 having appeared to be heading for defeat as the new La Liga season finally got underway on Saturday.

The season was supposed to start a week ago but a strike of a different kind - as players downed tools over wages - meant it was delayed for the first time in 27 years.

It started well with Soldado sliding the ball home after keeper Antonio Rodriguez spilled a Pablo Hernandez shot after just one minute on the pitch but he went on to head into his own goal six minutes later before the lively Lautaro Acosta gave Racing the lead after 14 minutes.

The game appeared to be going away from Valencia as Adrian Gonzalez took advantage of a poor defensive clearance to add to Racing's lead on 56 minutes but then defender Adil Rami reduced the deficit (58).

Lineups
Valencia: Guaita, Ricardo Costa (45' Alberto Costa), Adil Rami, Jordi Alba, Bruno, Banega, Bernat (45' Sergio Canales), Pablo, Piatti (67' Jonas).

Racing: Toño, Osmar, Álvaro, Domingo, Manuel Arana (78' Samperio), Diop, Picón (69' Borja García), Adrian, Bakircioglu, Lautaro Acosta (64' Edu Bedia), Munitis. 

Goal Scorers: Soldado (1' 1-0), Soldado (6' 1-1 o.g.), Lautaro Acosta (14' 1-2), Adrian Gonzalez (56' 1-3), Rami (57' 2-3), Soldado (88' 3-3), Soldado (90' 4-3)