Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Atletico Madrid won for the ninth time in 10 games to begin its La Liga campaign on Sunday, cruising to a 5-0 triumph over Real Betis at the Vicente Calderon.
Oliver Torres was making his first start for Atletico and he scored in the opening minute of the match, accounting for the lone goal of the first half.
The home side really picked up the pace after halftime and David Villa scored twice in the span of four minutes to hand Atletico a 3-0 advantage.
Villa scored from close range in the 53rd minute following a low cross from Filipe Luis, and he doubled his tally in the 57th after beating two defenders and firing a shot past goalkeeper Guillermo Sara.
Diego Costa was next to find the net for Atletico as Villa turned provider, while Gabi capped the scoring in stoppage time.
Villarreal 4, Valencia 1
Villarreal, Spain - Giovani Dos Santos scored two goals and set up another to propel Villarreal to a 4-1 win over Valencia at El Madrigal on Sunday.
The Yellow Submarine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 22 minutes with goals from Ikechukwu Uche and Hernan Perez before Dos Santos made it 3-0 early in the second half when he scored from a corner kick after his penalty kick was saved one minute earlier.
Valencia made it 3-1 in the 62nd minute when Ricardo Costa nodded home Dani Parejo's corner kick.
However, Dos Santos stamped out any hope of a comeback in the 84th when he curled home a 25-yard shot to move Villarreal to within two points of third- place Real Madrid.
Sevilla 2, Osasuna 1
Seville, Spain - Second-half goals from Ivan Rakitic and Jairo Samperio propelled Sevilla to a 2-1 win over 10-man Osasuna on Sunday at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
Osasuna was reduced to 10 men 35 minutes into the contest when Damia Abella brought down Sevilla's Kevin Gameiro as the last man.
Rakitic put the home side in front in the 55th when he took a pass from Stephane M'Bia and tucked his shot inside the left post, while M'Bia set up Sevilla's second tally as well as he teed up Jairo for his first goal of the season.
Oriol Riera pulled a goal back for Osasuna three minutes from time but it wasn't enough to prevent the club's third defeat in five games.
Real Sociedad 3, Almeria 0
San Sebastian, Spain - Antoine Griezmann tallied a goal in each half to help Real Sociedad to a 3-0 win over last-place Almeria on Sunday.
Griezmann was on target in the 13th minute with a header after Xabi Prieto's flick, and he used his head again in the 50th to double the lead when he got on the other end of Jose Angel's cross.
Angel then found the net himself five minutes later to put the result out of reach when he hammered home a left-footed shot.
The result leaves Almeria with five successive defeats and the club has scored just once during that time.
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