Spanish La Liga round-up: Real Madrid put daylight between themselves and Barcelona in the early Primera Division standings on Saturday as they won 5-2 at home to Osasuna while their great rivals suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to newly-promoted Alaves.
The two sides had each taken maximum points from their opening two games but it is Zinedine Zidane’s men who now hold the edge, moving on to nine points after a convincing victory at the Bernabeu.
Real’s win was their 15th in succession in La Liga, equalling a club record set in the 1960-61 season.
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his delayed return to club action with a sixth-minute goal, converting from close range after being teed up by Gareth Bale.
Danilo added a second for Real with a deflected effort after Osasuna goalkeeper Nauzet Perez failed to take control of a ball into the box and Sergio Ramos’s header from a corner made it 3-0, and effectively game over, just before half-time.
Pepe headed in Real's fourth in the 56th minute and Luka Modric scored the pick of the bunch with a curling 62nd-minute strike, before the visitors pulled two back through Oriol Riera and David Garcia.
Barcelona struggled to break down Alaves at the Nou Camp and fell behind when Deyverson took advantage of lax defending from Javier Mascherano to poke the visitors in front in the 39th minute.
Jeremy Mathieu brought Barca level a minute into the second half but another mistake from Mascherano enabled Ibai Gomez to steal possession in the box and guide a shot past debutant goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.
Atletico Madrid's season finally sparked into life as they won 4-0 away to Celta Vigo thanks to an Antoine Griezmann brace.
Diego Simeone’s side opened with disappointing draws against Alaves and another promoted side, Leganes, and Atleti went in goalless at the interval at Balaidos.
However, midfielder Koke broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute after a good bit of set-up play from Griezmann.
The mercurial France forward then scored twice himself in the 73rd and 81st minutes, heading in crosses from Saul Niguez and Juanfran, before Angel Correa added a late fourth.
Early pace-setters Las Palmas suffered heartbreak away to Sevilla as what looked like being a third straight win ended in defeat.
Tana curled home a glorious goal for the Canary Islanders in the 16th minute and they would have been well worth a win at the Estadio Pizjuan as they presented the more coherent goal threat throughout.
However, Vitolo won a dubious penalty after a challenge from Pedro Bigas which Pablo Sarabia converted in the 89th minute and fellow substitute Carlos Fernandez bundled in the winner with the final kick of the game in the 94th minute.
Villarreal got their campaign up and running with a 2-0 win away to Malaga. Jaume Costa put them in front in the 33rd minute at La Rosaleda after good approach work from Rafael Santos Borre, and Nicola Sansone added a second 10 minutes later, moments after Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni saved a Bruno Soriano penalty.
