Atletico Madrid sent out a serious signal of intent to their rivals with an eye-opening 3-0 victory at Europa League holders Sevilla on Sunday night.

Midfielder Koke gave his side the lead in the first half, poking home Antoine Griezmann’s pass after Daniel Carrico had bundled the Frenchman to the floor.

Captain Gabi doubled Los Coloncheros’ lead with 12 minutes to go via a deflection from range, before summer signing Jackson Martinez got his first goal since his transfer from Porto.

The impressive victory sees Diego Simeone’s outfit continue their 100% start to their La Liga campaign, while Unai Emery’s men still await their first win and goal.

Rafa off the mark

Atleti’s city rivals Real Madrid also recorded a convincing win, with a 5-0 home triumph against newly-promoted Real Betis in Rafael Benitez’s first win in charge.

Gareth Bale opened and rounded up the scoring for Los Blancos, heading home from James Rodriguez’ cross early on before grabbing his second late on with an impressive strike from outside the box.

Rodriguez helped himself to two firing a stunning free-kick into the top corner via the post just before the interval, before securing his brace with an overhead kick shortly after.

Sandwiched in between the Colombian’s strikes was a deft finish from Arsenal target Karim Benzema, who rounded off a wonderful team move.

Betis’ miserable evening was compounded by Castro’s penalty on 77 minutes, which was poorly struck and subsequently saved by Keylor Navas in the Madrid goal.

Two wins from two for Barca

Champions Barcelona proved to be less convincing than their two nearest challengers, slogging to a 1-0 home victory against Malaga.

Defender Thomas Vermaelen scored the only goal of the game with just over 15 minutes to go, firing a powerful effort past visiting ‘keeper Carlos Kameni after the away side failed to clear a corner.

The win means last season’s treble winners have won 1-0 in both league games so far.

Celta Vigo and Eibar also continued their perfect starts to the new campaign, with the former recording a 3-0 win at home to Rayo Vallecano.

Eibar’s 1-0 win against struggling Athletic Bilbao sees them joint-top of the early table, after being reinstated to the top flight despite being relegated on the final day of last season.

Elsewhere, Las Palmas got their first point since promotion last season with a goalless draw against Levante at home, while former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo earned 10-man Valencia a draw against Deportivo.

New boys Sporting Gijon recorded their second 0-0 draw in as many games at Real Sociedad, while Granada bounced back from their opening day defeat against Eibar with a 2-1 win at Getafe.

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