REAL Madrid maintained their unbeaten start to the league season with a 2-0 victory over neighbours Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu last night.

Ricardo Carvalho and Mesut Ozil scored Real’s two goals in six frantic first-half minutes, giving the hosts a lead that Atletico rarely threatened throughout a frustrating 90 minutes for Quique Sánchez Flores’s men.

Real went into the Madrid derby in a rich vein of form – unbeaten in the league this season and having scored 19 goals in their last four league games – and they looked on their way to another cricket score when Ricardo Carvalho opened the scoring with just 13 minutes played.

Lionel Messi, David Villa and Pedro gave Barcelona a 3-1 win at Getafe yesterday.

Getafe crowded their own half to try and stifle the visitors but Barca weaved an intricate web of passes to set up Messi after 23 minutes and the Argentinian scored inside the near post.

Messi’s subtle lay-off created the second for Villa in the 35th and Pedro grabbed the third after Barca pressured the home defence into a mistake in the 65th.

Barca defender Gerard Pique earned his second yellow card and was sent off for handling the ball in the area soon after.

Manu del Moral pulled one back for Getafe from the penalty spot in the 70th. With the visitors rattled, Getafe pressed forward but a red card for midfielder Derek Boateng took the wind out of their sails and Barca could have scored again.

Earlier, Villarreal came back to beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 and keep pace with the leaders.