Victorious Real, Barca pull clear at the top

Real Madrid and Barcelona surged three points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday when Real beat promoted Las Palmas 3-1 at home and the champions won 2-0 at Getafe. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his eighth goal of the campaign, between strikes from Isco and Jese, in a comfortable win for a depleted Real at the Bernabeu.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his team's second goal against Las Palmas during the Spanish La Liga match between Real Madrid and Las Palmas at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, on Saturday.

Real Madrid and Barcelona surged three points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday when Real beat promoted Las Palmas 3-1 at home and the champions won 2-0 at Getafe.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his eighth goal of the campaign, between strikes from Isco and Jese, in a comfortable win for a depleted Real at the Bernabeu, though they did concede at home for the first time this term in Spain’s top flight.

At Getafe, Neymar stayed ahead of Ronaldo atop the scoring chart with his ninth, a superb volley to make it 2-0 after Luis Suarez hit his eighth of the season as the South American pair kept Barca motoring in the absence of injured talisman Lionel Messi.

Real and Barca each have 24 points from 10 matches, with Real ahead on goal difference.

Celta Vigo climbed above Atletico Madrid into third on 21 points after a breathtaking long-range effort from Pablo Hernandez sealed a 3-2 comeback win at Real Sociedad.

Imanol Agirretxe twice put Sociedad ahead but each time Iago Aspas levelled before Hernandez won the game a minute from time.

Fifth-placed Villarreal beat Europa League holders Sevilla 2-1 at the Madrigal thanks to goals either side of the break from Mario Gaspar and Cedric Bakambu.

The win put Villarreal level on 20 points with Atletico, who conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruna on Friday.

Valencia won 3-0 at home to city rivals Levante and climbed to sixth on 15 points thanks to a Paco Alcacer penalty and goals from Sofiane Feghouli and Zakaria Bakkali.

Despite the convincing scoreline, Valencia supporters expressed their dissatisfaction with coach Nuno and made it clear they want forward Alvaro Negredo, who has been left out of the side in recent weeks, to be reinstated.