Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid put its goalscoring worries firmly behind it by crushing Deportivo La Coruna 6-1 in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Having only managed to score six goals in the team's five previous league games, Madrid made an ideal start at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium when Ronaldo headed home in the fourth minute and Mesut Oezil wrong-footed Deportivo's defense before firing in an angled shot in the 24th minute.
Xabi Alonso hit a long pass upfield for Gonzalo Higuain, who raced along the left flank before sending over a pinpoint cross for Angel di Maria to head powerfully into the net in the 35th minute.
Deportivo striker Lassad Nouioui made an individual run toward Madrid's goal but keeper Iker Casillas stood his ground and ended up robbing the Frenchman of the ball in the 48th minute.
Higuain made it 4-0 after a well-timed cross from Di Maria in the 54th minute and Deportivo's Portugal midfielder Jose Castro gave away an own goal under pressure as Madrid charged forward in the 61st minute.
Juan Rodriguez headed a consolation goal for Deportivo in the 79th minute before Ronaldo struck his second, a precisely placed low strike, in the 89th minute.
"It was a very complete performance, we have to continue like this and try and play like this away from home as well," Alonso said.
Also it was Barcelona 1, Mallorca 1; Sevilla 3, Atletico Madrid 1; Getafe 3, Hercules 0; Villarreal 2, Racing Santander 0; Almeria 1, Malaga 1; and Osasuna 1, Levante 1.
Valencia leads the standings on 16 points, one more than Villarreal, with Real Madrid third on 14 points and Barcelona one point behind in fourth.
Barcelona dominated the first 40 minutes after coach Pep Guardiola gave Lionel Messi his first start since recovering from an injury sustained on Sept. 19, playing him alongside Bojan Krkic in attack.
Michael Laudrup, who was appointed Mallorca coach in July, was welcomed by the crowds at the Camp Nou despite having left Barcelona as a player to join arch-rivals Real Madrid in 1994.
Barcelona midfielder Dani Alves passed to left winger Pedro Rodriguez who gave a deft back pass for Messi to slot home his third goal of the season in the 21st minute.
Mallorca striker Emilio N'Sue rose above Barcelona's defense to head the ball powerfully into the top left hand corner for his first of the season in the 42nd minute.
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes needed to make a sharp save after Pierre Webo latched onto a poor pass by Gerard Pique and hit an accurate long range shot from midfield.
Messi was wearing new gold-colored boots to celebrate his status as the Golden Boot award winner - given to the top scorer in European leagues. Each was decorated with small images of 17 balls for the 34 goals he scored last season.
Guardiola said forward Pedro Rodriguez had suffered a muscle injury to his right leg, something likely to worry national coach Vicente del Bosque who hoped to have him in Spain's attack for its upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Lithuania and Scotland.
"On first impression it looks like he's torn a muscle, tomorrow we'll do more tests and see the extent of the injury," Guardiola said.
Alvaro Negredo scored his first goal of the season for Sevilla after controlling the ball on the edge of the penalty area, rolling it back delicately with the tip of his boot, tapping it forward a few inches and then shooting powerfully home in the 29th minute.
Sevilla made it 2-0 the 35th minute when Atletico goalkeeper David De Gea failed to hold a shot from Frederic Kanoute and Diego Perotti pounced with a volley which deflected off a defender's back and into the net.
Kanoute collected a pass from Negredo and rifled in Sevilla's third from just outside the penalty area in the 51st minute.
Diego Costa pulled one back for Atletico in the 57th when he raced forward on the right and his shot from an acute angle squeezed beneath Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop.
The win gave Gregorio Manzano a successful home debut as coach after taking over a week ago from Antonio Alvarez.
Villarreal's home win ensured it stayed in the top three in the standings thanks to goals from Brazil striker Nilmar, who extended his league-leading tally to five goals, and Giuseppe Rossi.
Nilmar opened the scoring in the eighth minute and Santiago Cazorla raced down the right flank five minutes later before crossing for Rossi to score his team's second goal.
Daniel Parejo hit Getafe's first in the 21st minute and 21 minutes later Manuel del Moral struck the second after collecting a pass from Parejo. Venezuela striker Nicolas "Miku" Fedor hit the third goal in the 81st minute.
Malaga's Eliseu Pereira was shown a straight red card in the 40th minute after the referee adjudged he had used his hand to lash out at an opponent.
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie scored in the 51st minute on his debut for Malaga, while Kalu Uche missed a penalty for Almeria but then scored an equalizer in the 77th minute.
Uruguay international forward Walter Pandiani scored for Osasuna in the 73rd minute, only for midfielder Sergio Gonzalez to level six minutes later for Levante.
On Saturday it was Zaragoza 2, Sporting Gijon 2; Real Sociedad 1, Espanyol 0 and Valencia 2, Athletic Bilbao 1.
