Real and Barça reassert Liga order

José Mourinho was a man in need of a boost as a busy run of La Liga fixtures culminated in the visit of Rayo for a Madrid derby on Saturday evening. Real had been held at Racing in midweek and suffered an unexpected loss at Levante a few days before that. Even Mourinho, while stressing there was no "crisis" at the Bernabéu, admitted that his side was going through a sticky patch. Fifteen seconds after the ball was rolled from the spot on Saturday it had been belted past Iker Casillas to give Rayo an unlikely lead. A blunder by Lassana Diarra gifted possession to Rayo, and Raúl Tamudo was found in space sufficient to unleash a shot that the Spain captain could only parry into the path of Michu, who gratefully slotted it home.

Many have been the occasions that Mourinho has rued fielding Diarra - the fall guy for the 5-0 Camp Nou drubbing that remains the heaviest defeat of the "Special One's" career - and the Frenchman was ignominiously hauled off before even half an hour had elapsed, to be replaced by Mesut Özil. The resulting change in Real's dynamic was palpable, and the home side began to clear its lines from defense with greater speed, launching counter after counter from the feet of Özil and an effervescent Kaká. Cristiano Ronaldo scored on the break and Gonzalo Higuaín added another on the stroke of half time to ease the growing unrest.

The second half proved to be mostly one-way traffic, Real advancing at will and scoring freely. Ronaldo completed a new hat-trick with two from the spot as Rayo's defending became more desperate, Karim Benzema joined the party with Real's fifth and Raphael Varane scored his first goal for the club, a wonderful airborne flick with his heel that will not be swiftly forgotten by those fans seated behind Rayo's goal. A bright note for the visitor despite the 6-2 score line was the performance of their own Lass - Guinean Alhassane Bangoura - who ran Real's defense ragged in a first half that augured a promising season from the former Rayo B forward.

As the curtain fell on events at the Bernabéu, Atlético was lining up at Camp Nou with mutiny in mind. A series of decent results, the least-breached defense in the division and a genuine match-winner in Radamel Falcao had allowed the rojiblancos the right to talk up the chance of a headline-grabbing performance. But the only upset in sight was for those unfortunate souls who had made the journey from the capital.

Leo Messi must go to bed before a match against Atlético with all the wide-eyed brio of a bairn on Christmas eve - the Argentinean wunderkind scored his third career hat-trick against Atlético; his 12th, 13th and 14th goals against the Madrid side in 11 games. Messi's performance was simply sublime and when "The Flea" is in the mood, he is certainly an irritant that Atlético is unable to itch. The visitor had looked a force against the lesser lights of Racing and Sporting, knocking four past each in its past two games, but Barça's 5-0 win over Gregorio Manzano's men was further evidence on the evening that any notion of the league being contested by more than two sides this season is fanciful at best.