Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick on Saturday as Real Madrid romped to a 5-2 win over Real Sociedad to move up to third in La Liga, although they remain 16 points away from leaders Barcelona.
Ahead of them in second sit Atletico Madrid, who edged their second successive 1-0 victory in their trip to Malaga to remain within six points of Barca, albeit having played one game more than the Blaugrana.
Villarreal lost their third home league match of the season and fell 2-1 to Alaves, who held out for a famous win at the Estadio de la Ceramica after Rodrigo Ely and Ibai Gomez put them into a 2-0 lead.