Robert Lewandowski scored again as Barcelona defeated Sevilla 3-0 in La Liga Saturday, while Real Madrid made it four wins from four with victory over Real Betis.
Barca rode their lucky early on at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied Ivan Rakitic and Youssef En-Nesyri before the visitors struck against the run of play.
Raphinha headed in the rebound after Lewandowski's dinked effort was cleared off the line, but the Poland star didn't need long to get on the scoresheet himself.
Lewandowski controlled a flighted pass from Jules Kounde on his chest and volleyed past Bono for his fifth league goal in four appearances.
Eric Garcia tapped in Barca's third five minutes after half-time after Raphinha's cross was nodded across goal by Kounde, who was sold by Sevilla for 50m euros ($49.8m) this summer.
Barca, who host Viktoria Plzen Wednesday in the opening round of Champions League group games, are two points behind Real - 2-1 winners over Betis earlier in the day.
Vinicius Junior struck for the third game running as Real took an early lead at Santiago Bernabeu, but Sergio Canales soon equalized with a goal against his former club.
Rodrygo secured maximum points for Carlo Ancelotti's side just past the hour with his first goal of the campaign.
"He's a special forward because he can play in any position. He's very quick and very intelligent without the ball," Ancelotti said of Rodrygo, now in his fourth season with Real.
"The apprenticeship is over and now he's a Real player in every way."
Next up for the European champions is a trip to Celtic in the Champions League.
"The team's going through a good patch right now, the squad has a lot of confidence," said Ancelotti.
"The most important game of the first part of the season is coming up Tuesday. We're going to be taking on a team that's on a fantastic run and it's going to be very difficult."
Playing at home for the first time this season as renovation work continues on their iconic ground, Real had a lucky early escape when Nabil Fekir appeared to be fouled in the area.
The incident went unpunished and was not reviewed, but Fekir injured him hamstring and had to be replaced by Luiz Henrique.
Real promptly inflicted a sucker punch as Vinicius raced onto David Alaba's ball over the top, lobbing Betis goalkeeper Rui Silva for the opening goal.
Betis, who began the season with wins over Elche, Mallorca and Osasuna, hit back when Borja Iglesias laid off a throw-in for Canales to drive through the legs of Thibaut Courtois.
Vinicius should have immediately restored Real’s lead, blazing over a cross from Rodrygo.
Silva then made a miraculous stop to claw out Aurelien Tchouameni's header.
Karim Benzema skewed over and then failed to convert from point-blank range moments after half-time, the Frenchman ultimately denied by a crucial touch from Silva.
The Betis keeper again got his fingers to a powerful effort from Luka Modric, but Rodrygo had the final say when he slid home Federico Valverde's pass on 65 minutes.
Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at Real Sociedad as Nigeria striker Umar Sadiq scored on his debut for the hosts.
Alvaro Morata swept in at a corner in the fifth minute, but Sadiq headed home a second-half equalizer following his arrival from Almeria.
The 25-year old joined Sociedad on transfer deadline day as a replacement for Sweden forward Alexander Isak, signed by Newcastle United last week for a reported £58m ($68m).
More concerningly for Atletico, goalkeeper Jan Oblak was forced off with a leg injury late on.
"Hopefully it will be minor and the doctors will tell us in the next few days," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone, whose side are at home to Porto next week in the Champions League.
RESULTS
Mallorca 1 (Raillo 87) Girona 1 (Saiz 90+2-P)
Real Madrid 2 (Vinicius 9, Rodrygo 65) Betis 1 (Canales 17)
Sociedad 1 (Sadiq 55) Atletico 1 (Morata 5)
Sevilla 0 Barcelona 3 (Raphinha 21, Lewandowski 36, Garcia 50)
Friday
Celta 3 (Aspas 56, 75, Rodriguez 62) Cadiz 0
