Real Madrid powered on at the top of the Primera Liga table on Sunday with a hugely entertaining 4-3 home win over Real Mallorca.
Real forwards Robinho (2), Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy netted for the reigning Spanish champions - who beat Mallorca 3-1 on the final day of last season to win the title - while the visitors replied through a Fernando Varela brace and Dani Guiza.
Villarreal moved up to second ahead of Barcelona after edging out 10-man Sevilla 3-2 in an absorbing encounter at El Madrigal.
The game was evenly poised - Sevilla's Fredi Kanoute cancelling out Guillermo Franco's opener - when the visitors had captain Dani Alves sent-off for collecting two yellow cards in quick succession approaching halftime.
Going down to 10 men did not hamper Sevilla immediately with Luis Fabiano putting them 2-1 up but Manolo Jimenez's men eventually ran out of steam.
Franco equalized midway through the second half before Matias Fernandez netted the winner from the penalty spot with four minutes remaining to keep the Yellow Submarine just a point behind the leaders.
Barcelona started the weekend in second but dropped to third after a woeful display on Saturday night at Getafe, who clinched a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Manu Del Moral and substitute Juan Angel Albin.
Frank Rijkaard's men also finished game with 10 men following the late dismissal of Gianluca Zambrotta.
Also on Saturday, Ronald Koeman secured his first win since taking the coaching reins at Valencia when his new side beat Murcia 3-0.
A brace from David Villa after an Ivan Helguera opener sealed the points for Los Che. On Sunday, Almeria missed a penalty and saw two efforts crash against the woodwork as their domination of Atletico Madrid amounted to only a 0-0 draw.
Felipe Melo De Carvalho could be considered the biggest culprit in Almeria's squad of mis-hitters, the midfielder seeing his penalty saved by Leo Franco.
Espanyol stretched their unbeaten run to eight games with a last-gasp win at home to Athletic Bilbao.
Igor Gabilondo put the Basque team ahead early on, but the evergreen Raul Tamudo hit back for the visitors just before the break.
The hosts pressured for much of the second half, but appeared to be heading for their fourth consecutive draw until Aitor Ocio's comical last-minute own-goal gifted the points to the home side, who stay in fifth place after 12 rounds of the championship.
Two late goals from substitute Mariano Pavone gave Real Betis a dramatic 2-1 win over Real Zaragoza at the Ruiz de Lopera stadium on Sunday.
A first-half strike from Andres D'Alessandro looked to have been enough to condemn Los Verdiblancos to their worst start in the league since the early nineties, but Pavone struck twice in the last 10 minutes to give his side only their second win of the season.
Racing Santander continued their good run of form as their 1-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna means it is now seven games unbeaten for the Verdiblancos.
Mohammed Tchite scored the only goal of the game against the strugglers whose misery was compounded by the dismissal of Filipe in injury time.
Jonathan Sesma bagged his second goal of the season as resurgent Real Valladolid extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 1-0 win against rock-bottom Levante.
10-man Recreativo Huelva clinched a vital three points with a deserved 1-0 win over Osasuna, Carlos Martins scoring with 19 minutes to go.
And though Gerard Lopez saw red eight minutes from time, Recreativo held on to claim the points.