Falcao treble downs Racing

Radamel Falcao scored a hat-trick as Atletico Madrid swept aside Racing Santander in a 4-0 victory at the Vicente Calderon. The Colombian striker, a club-record signing at an initial €40 million from Porto over the summer, scored his first goal in Spanish football with an accurate shot on the turn from Jose Reyes' cut-back before slotting away his second from the penalty spot ten minutes before half-time. Atletico were equally as dominant in the second period and Falcao completed his hat-trick with a delicate chip over Tono Ramirez ten minutes into the second half. Adrian Lopez added the fourth with a downward header from Arda Turan's fine cross with 12 minutes remaining. The hosts had played well despite not scoring in either of their first two La Liga games of the season and looked threatening from the start with the quartet of Falcao, Reyes, Arda and Diego in attack. Diego created the first opportunity by playing in Tiago, but the Portuguese midfielder opted to try to pass to Falcao rather than shoot himself and the chance was gone. Arda and Reyes then combined to set up Falcao for the opener, Reyes pulling the ball back from the by-line for the former Porto man to control before hooking a left-foot shot past Tono form 12 yards. Falcao was given the chance to double both his and Atletico's tally when Osmar Barba clumsily challenged Diego in the box on 36 minutes. The referee was left with no option but to point to the spot and Falcao confidently sent Tono the wrong way. Diego and Falcao both missed chances to add to the score before half-time, but the third did arrive just after the break when a wonderful pass from Arda split the Racing defence and Falcao was able to loft the ball beyond the helpless Tono. Adrian had been brought on for Diego at half-time and he scored his first league goal for Atletico with a neat header thanks to another assist from Arda.