Racing Santander's Defensive Crisis Puts Deportivo La Coruña in the Driving Seat

Sunday brings a La Liga fixture that tells you everything you need to know about where both clubs are right now. Racing Santander at home. Deportivo La Coruña as the visitors. On paper, a local rivalry with something to prove. In reality, a match between two sides who have serious questions to answer about their desire to compete at this level.

Racing Santander: The Numbers Are Damning

Listen, one clean sheet in five La Liga matches is not a blip. It is a pattern. Racing have conceded 13 goals across their last five completed league games, and that tells you something about their defensive standards that no amount of excuses can fix.

The thing is, the results back it up. Racing's last five in La Liga read win, loss, win, loss, loss. They were beaten 5-0 by Celta Vigo. They were beaten 2-0 by Osasuna. They lost 3-0 at home to Real Madrid. One win in that sample, against Espanyol. That is the picture.

A side leaking goals at that rate has an accountability problem. The basics of defending, your shape, your desire to hold a line, your willingness to put your body in the way, they are not being executed. End of.

Deportivo La Coruña: Inconsistent, But Not Broken

Deportivo are not in sparkling form either. Their last five La Liga matches show one win, two draws, and two losses. They have kept zero clean sheets in that sample. Both teams to score has landed in four of their last five. That is not a defensive record that inspires confidence.

They were beaten 3-2 by Real Sociedad and lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid. They drew 1-1 with Levante and 1-1 with Real Betis. Their one win was a 2-1 result against Osasuna. So there is quality in this squad. The attitude on that day against Osasuna was right. They competed and they took their chances.

The injury situation adds a layer of genuine concern though. Deportivo head into this fixture with three confirmed absentees. One is a major injury not expected to be resolved until January 2027. Two further moderate injuries round out a squad that has taken hits in the weeks leading up to this match. That is a depleted travelling party and the manager will know it.

The Key Battleground

Racing's inability to keep the ball out of their net is the defining factor here. They have not managed a single clean sheet in this rolling sample of five La Liga games. Deportivo, for all their inconsistency, have scored in four of their last five and shown they can find a way to goal against decent opposition.

The thing is, Deportivo's injury list is real and Racing will know the visitors are not at full strength. Home advantage matters. Racing did manage a 2-1 win against Espanyol in this window, so the belief is not completely gone.

But this Racing side is there to be attacked. Their defensive record is unacceptable by any standard. If Deportivo show up with the right attitude, the goals are on offer. Whether they have enough bodies available to take advantage is the question that only Sunday will answer.

Connor's Call

I am not convinced by either side. But Racing's defence is in a worse state than Deportivo's attack, even with the injury concerns. I am looking at both teams to score. It has landed in four of Deportivo's last five La Liga fixtures. Racing have conceded in every single one of their last five. That is not a coincidence. That is a problem. Back both teams to score and walk away from it.