Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice as Real Madrid beat troubled Valencia 5-1 at the Mestalla Stadium last night.
On a day when they appointed former Netherlands international Ronald Koeman as head coach on a two-and-half year contract, Valencia went behind to a Raul goal within a minute of kick-off.
Real were 4-0 up by half-time through van Nistelrooy's brace and a goal from Sergio Ramos.
Miguel Angel Angulo pulled one back for Valencia, who hope to have Koeman in place by the weekend, but had a Raul Albiol red card and a Robinho goal to endure before full-time.
The win left Real four points clear of Villarreal at the top of the table and five ahead of Barcelona who are away at Valladolid today.
Villarreal moved into second spot after a crushing 3-0 win at home to basement side Levante, the goals coming courtesy of an early strike from Guillermo Franco, a Giuseppe Rossi penalty and a Pascal Cygan header.
Levante remain anchored to the foot of the table with just one point from 10 games.
In Serie A yesterday, second-placed AS Roma came from behind to beat city rivals Lazio 3-2 and Alberto Gilardino scored twice to help AC Milan rediscover their form with a 5-0 victory at Sampdoria.
All of Serie A's top sides won with David Trezeguet netting his second hat-trick of the campaign in Juventus' 3-0 victory over Empoli while leaders Inter Milan beat Genoa 4-1.
Fiorentina edged out Napoli 1-0 thanks to Christian Vieri's second-half strike.
Inter have 24 points from 10 games, Roma are three points behind while Juventus and Fiorentina are four adrift. Mid-table Milan move above Sampdoria after a third league win this season.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have again stressed that Ronaldinho is not for sale following renewed speculation about the Brazilian's future.
Newspaper reports have claimed that Chelsea and Milan are ready to offer €100 million in an attempt to sign the playmaker in January's transfer window.
Club vice-president Ferran Soriano told La Vanguardia: "Ronaldinho is not for sale, neither in December, nor June.
"It's inevitable that he has some problems with his game, but we've never thought of selling him."
