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Rafael van der Vaart scored three goals to help defending champion Real Madrid. Trounce last-place Sporting Gijon 7-1 in the Spanish league on Wednesday.

Raul Gonzalez added two more at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, while there was also a goal apiece for Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben in Madrid’s third straight victory that kept it a point off the lead.

The defeat compounded a dismal three days for Gijon, which had lost its previous game 6-1 to FC Barcelona on Sunday and has leaked 19 goals in four losses since it returned to the top flight after a decade’s absence.

Earlier, Villarreal moved to the top of the standings with a 2-0 win over Racing Santander, with Joan Capdevila and Joseba Llorente scoring first-half goals as their team maintained its unbeaten start to the season.

Also, Samuel Eto’o netted twice and Eidur Gudjohnsen scored a late goal to give Barcelona a 3-2 win over Real Betis.

In other games, Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Getafe, Sevilla beat Espanyol 2-0 and Osasuna drew 0-0 with Deportivo La Coruna.

Villarreal leads with 10 points, one more than Atletico and Madrid. Sevilla has eight, while Barcelona, Valencia, Almeria and Espanyol all have seven.

On Thursday, it’s: Malaga vs. Valencia; Valladolid vs. Almeria; Recreativo Huelva vs. Athletic Bilbao; and Mallorca vs. Numancia.

Villarreal gave Santander little hope of gaining its first win of the season by racing into a two-goal lead.

Capdevila headed the first goal in the 29th minute when the Spain defender met Angel Lopez’s cross from the right.

Striker Llorente scored his second goal in three days by racing in to deliver a powerful header five minutes later, again from Angel’s cross.

Gijon’s suffering began in the 18th minute when Van der Vaart volleyed home after Raul had deftly flicked a header from Ruben De La Red’s chip.

The Netherlands midfielder, who joined Madrid from Hamburg in the offseason, doubled his tally 15 minutes later when his back-heel from Higuain’s pass took a deflection off Gijon defender Ivan Hernandez.

Higuain side-footed Madrid’s third goal in the 37th after receiving Robben’s pass across the penalty area, while Van der Vaart completed his hat trick in the 47th with another side-footed shot after Robben and Raul had combined.

Robben scored Madrid’s fifth goal in the 51st, although Gijon forward Kike Mateo fired his team’s consolation goal two minutes later.

Raul netted his first goal of the season in the 59th after Robben’s fierce shot had been turned onto the bar by goalkeeper Sergio Sanchez, and Madrid’s captain then chipped home to complete the victory five minutes later.

Barcelona continued its recovery from its worst start for 35 years in which it failed to win its opening two league games.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, celebrating the 100th day of his tenure, rested captain Carles Puyol and left striker Thierry Henry on the bench. Henry had missed the game at Gijon due to illness.

Eto’o scored in the 17th minute when he created space after receiving Lionel Messi’s pass before firing a rising shot into the roof of the net.

Messi helped produce the Cameroon striker’s second goal – the 100th of his Barcelona career – six minutes later, the Argentina forward sending in a low cross which Eto’o clipped home at the near post.

With Barcelona seemingly relaxing, Betis scored its first goal of the season in the 59th minute when Fabian Monzon fired home after receiving Jesus “Capi” Capitan’s tapped free kick.

The visitors stunned Barcelona by equalizing eight minutes later through striker Jose Mari Romero, who broke free of the defense and chipped over goalkeeper Victor Valdes and into the net.

Guardiola replaced Eto’o and Seydou Keita with Bojan Krkic and Gudjohnsen in the 71st, and the coach was rewarded nine minutes later when the Iceland international slid in to turn Daniel Alves’ cross into goal.

Atletico striker Florent Sinama Pongolle scored in the 30th minute, controlling a long ball from Tomas Ujfalusi and slipping past defender Lucas Licht before firing home for his fourth goal of the season.

Getafe leveled in the 76th minute through Juan Albin’s header, only for his teammate David Cortes to turn home Maxi Rodriguez’s pass across goal for Atletico’s winner six minutes later.

Sevilla midfielder Enzo Maresca’s 58th-minute header and striker Javier Chevanton’s 86th-minute shot maintained their team’s unbeaten start while ending Espanyol’s.

Ireland’s former Liverpool defender, Steve Finnan, was included in Espanyol’s starting lineup for the first time after having appeared as a substitute in the team’s draw with Getafe on Saturday.

Osasuna failed to take advantage of the dismissal of Deportivo midfielder Julian De Guzman in the 52nd and remains winless this season.