Betis 2 - Racing Santander 1

Betis: Doblas; Varela, Melli, Juanito, Luis Fernández; Capi (Alfonso 88'), Marcos Assunçao; Joaquín, Edu (Pablo Niño 83'), Fernando (Arzu 60'); Oliveira. 4-2-3-1.
Racing: Dudu Aouate; Oscar Lozano, Moratón, Bertín; Pedro López, Matabuena (Arizmendi 46'), Nafti (Parri 55'); Morán (Márques 68'), Benayoun, Regueiro; Javi Guerrero. 3-3-3-1.

Team changes: Betis: Capi for Cañas / Racing: Oscar Lozano, Matabuena for Oriol, Anderson Silva.

Goals:
1-0. 28. Edu. Placed soft header wide of Aouate from Fernando's cross.
2-0. 72. Oliveira. Ran on to connect with Edu cross and shoot into roof of net.
2-1. 90. Arizmendi. Latched on to loose ball and fired shot wide of keeper.

Betis beat Racing Santander 2-1 to move up to sixth spot in the table, just a place behind city rivals Sevilla only a week before the two sides meet. The Andalusians dominated the match from start to finish, with Aouate having to save twice from Oliveira in the opening minutes, and they opened the scoring on the half hour mark when Fernando set up Edu for him to steer a soft header past the wrong-footed Aouate.

Racing's only effort in the first half had been a shot from Regueiro which Doblas had no problems with, although the keeper was called upon after the break to stop efforts from Javi Guerrero and Regueiro. Fernando could have scored at the other end though had Aouate not closed him down, and the home side extended their lead soon afterwards when Oliveira got on the end of Edu's cross to fire a first time shot into the roof of the net.

The visitors did get one back in the last minute when Luis Fernández failed to deal with a cross from the left wing, the ball falling to half time substitute Arizmendi for him to shoot wide of Doblas. But it was too late to prevent Betis's 500th win in the first division, and the Cantabrians drop to within two points of the relegation zone having only managed two draws in their last five games.