Sneijder inspires five-star Madrid

MADRID, Spain -- Wesley Sneijder scored twice to help Spanish champions Real Madrid to a crushing 5-0 victory at Villarreal.

Earlier, Barcelona had notched their first win of the new season with Brazilian Ronaldinho scoring twice in a convincing 3-1 victory over Athletico Bilbao.

But Real were even more impressive building on last weekend's 2-1 derby win over Atletico, who drew 1-1 with Mallorca on Sunday, with their humiliation of Villarreal who had won their last nine league matches.

Captain Raul opened the scoring on 38 minutes before Sneijder stole the show with a fantastic free-kick reminiscent of David Beckham in his prime.

The former Ajax man scored again for his third goal of the season with compatriot Ruud Van Nistelrooy, the league's top-scorer last season, and Guti completing the rout.

Real are the only team with the maximum six points with Barcelona and a number of other teams chasing on four.

French international forward Thierry Henry made his first league start in Barcelona's colours but it was Ronaldinho, top-scorer last season with 21 goals, who took the headlines.

Ronaldinho scored a trademark free-kick after just eight minutes, the club's first goal of the season, and he was on target again on 34 minutes converting a penalty after Henry had been felled in the area.

Henry came off to a standing ovation just after the hour mark with just a goal missing from a stellar display.

"Henry showed his quality and how dangerous he can be in games like this," explained Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard. "I was happy with the result and thought we played with a lot of energy especially in the first half when we created a number of chances.

"We dropped off in the second half but took the points and that is important."

Valencia, fourth last season, got their season on track with a late 2-1 win over Almeria. Veteran Spanish international striker Fernando Morientes replaced the suspended David Villa in attack and proved an able deputy netting shortly after half-time to put his team in front.

However, Almeria equalised and Valencia, who lost 3-0 to Villarreal in their opening game, needed a rare goal from Italian Emiliano Moretti ten minutes from time to seal their first win of the season.

Elsewhere, Real Betis showed there is room for sympathy in football with all their players donning the number 16 shirt with the name 'Puerta' on the back as a tribute to Antonio Puerta, who played for their arch-rivals Sevilla, who died on Tuesday from multiple organ failure.

Betis scored twice in the final seven minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw with Espanyol.

Sevilla are not in action this weekend due to a fixture back-log and Monday's league match against Osasuna has been postponed as the club will face AEK Athens in the second-leg of their Champions League qualifier. E-mail to a friend