Morocco forward Yassir Zabiri struck an 84th-minute winner as Racing Santander came from behind to beat Espanyol 2-1 at El Sardinero on Saturday, taking his tally to eight goals in his first ten La Liga matches and drawing him level with Barcelona star Lamine Yamal in the scoring charts.
For an hour, this looked like another frustrating night for Racing. The first half finished goalless, and when Eduardo Expósito put Espanyol ahead in the 62nd minute, the visitors were on course for a precious away win in their own fight near the bottom of the table.
Racing refused to accept it. Jeanuël Belocian levelled seven minutes later, and with the home crowd driving them forward, the comeback was completed around six minutes from the end of normal time. As LiveScore reported, it was Zabiri who struck the winner, once again delivering in the crucial moment for his team.
Eight in Ten, and a List of Greats
The numbers behind Zabiri's start in Spain are now impossible to ignore. Eight goals in ten La Liga matches place him third in this season's scoring charts, level with Yamal and behind only Kylian Mbappé and Raphinha, and Pan-Africa Football noted another milestone night for a forward who has risen through Morocco's youth teams.
Football statistics account Mister Chip put the achievement in its full historical context on X: the last players to score eight or more goals in their first ten La Liga matches were Gárate, Johan Cruyff, Caszely, Krankl, Morena, Mágico González, Romário, Ronaldo, Vieri, Ilie, Van Nistelrooy, Ibrahimovic, Aubameyang, Lewandowski and Jude Bellingham. As of Saturday night, Yassir Zabiri belongs on that list.
That is not a list of promising youngsters. It is a list of some of the greatest forwards ever to play in Spain, and a Racing Santander striker now sits alongside them after ten games.
So what happens next?
The win lifts Racing to 11 points and gives them breathing space in the lower half of the table, while Espanyol stay on eight points and in trouble near the bottom. For Racing, though, the bigger story is what they do with Zabiri's rise: a forward scoring at this rate, who was named La Liga's best under-23 player for September, will not stay under the radar for long, and bigger clubs will already be watching.
His form also sharpens the focus on Sunday's Clásico, where the man he has just caught in the charts, Yamal, carries Barcelona's perfect record against Real Madrid. And with Atlético winning again on Saturday to stay second, La Liga's early-season story is no longer only about the traditional giants — a Moroccan striker at Racing is writing his own chapter.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Zabiri is the breakout story of La Liga's season so far. Matching Yamal's output while playing for a side fighting in the lower half is a harder achievement than doing it in Barcelona's attack, and joining a scoring list that contains Cruyff, Ronaldo and Lewandowski after just ten games marks him out as a genuine star in the making, not a brief hot streak. Is Zabiri now the most exciting young forward in La Liga — and how long can Racing keep him?
