MADRID, Sept. 25 -- FC Barcelona continued to show they are the team to beat in the BBVA Primera Liga with a 5-0 thrashing of Atletico Madrid on Saturday night in what was the outstanding game of the fifth round of games in Spain.
Atletico Madrid travelled to the Camp Nou stadium with their optimism in the clouds after two 4-0 wins in which striker Radamal Falcao had scored five goals.
However, Barcelona produced an outstanding first half: David Villa put the home side ahead after nine minutes. Joao Miranda was unlucky to double Barca's lead with an own goal after 15 minutes.
Leo Messi added a third goal after 25 minutes to virtually assure the win. Messi then scored a fine solo goal 12 minutes from time and finished off his hat-trick in injury time with a powerful left foot shot from a narrow angle. It was his eighth goal of the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties as Real Madrid left their crisis behind with a 6-2 win over Rayo Vallecano in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
However, the result was slightly misleading as Madrid had to work much harder than the final score implies.
Rayo took the lead after just 12 seconds thanks to a goal from Michu and there were nerves in the Bernabeu until Ronaldo equalized five minutes from the break and Gonzalo Higuain put Madrid ahead on the stroke of halftime.
Ronaldo's first penalty of the night made it 3-1 after 51 minutes, but Michu's second goal of the night brought Rayo right back into the game.
Rafael Varene's first goal for Madrid made the game safe and a late goal from Karim Benzema and another Ronaldo penalty gave Madrid a more comfortable result than various periods of the game could have indicated.
Valencia lost their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 defeat to Sevilla, who have still to lose a match this campaign. Freddy Kanoute was again Sevilla's hero in a game which saw Petr Trochovski and Julien Escude sent off for the home side and Aritz Aduriz shown red for the visitors.
Saturday also saw Athletic Club Bilbao draw 1-1 at home to Villarreal: Igor Gabilondo opened the scoring for the home side, but Nilmar leveled soon after halftime and Athletic have still to win a match this season.
Sunday kicked off with Mallorca coming from behind to win 2-1 at home to Real Sociedad. Imanol Agirretxe's fourth goal put Real Sociedad ahead, but goals from Victor Casadesus and Chori Castro gave Mallorca a win that could have saved coach Michael Laudrup's job.
Levante's incredible start to the season continued with a 3-1 win at home to Espanyol.
Two Ruben Suarez penalties put Levante on their way against an Espanyol side that had to play the last half hour with a player less after Jordi Amat was sent off.
Granada and Osasuna drew 1-1 in Los Carmines: Fran Rico's second half strike cancelling out Raul Garcia's opener for Osasuna.
Sporting Gijon and Racing Santander drew 0-0 in Gijon, a result which leaves both sides without a win ,but at least gives Sporting their first point of the season.
Zaragoza's home game against Malaga was a late kick off, while Monday sees league leaders, Betis play away to Getafe. Betis are looking for their fifth win from five games.