Real Madrid’s Arjen Robben (left) and Raul during their match against Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday. (Reuters)

Madrid: Raul Gonzalez and Jose Maria ‘Guti’ Gutierrez each scored two goals on Sunday to help Real Madrid trounce Valladolid 7-0 and extend their lead atop the Spanish league standings.

Julio Baptista, Arjen Robben and substitute Royston Drenthe also netted for coach Bernd Schuster’s side, which led by five goals before half-time.

Madrid’s win, the league’s biggest of the season, stretched their advantage to eight points over second-place FC Barcelona with 15 games remaining. It also extended the defending champion's perfect league home record this season to 11 wins.

Valladolid, whose defeat equalled the biggest in the club’s 79-year history, had played into Madrid’s hands, Schuster said.

“We saw from videos that they play far up the field in order to pressure opponents. It's surprising for a team to play like that at the Bernabeu. It helped us,” Schuster said.

Also, Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored twice to give struggling Recreativo Huelva a 2-1 win at Espanyol.

Madrid’s overwhelming win, which came on the back of last weekend’s surprise defeat at Almeria, was achieved without injured leading scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy. Defenders Pepe, Christoph Metzelder and Gabriel Heinze were also out with injuries.

Recreativo is fighting to avoid relegation and the win marked a great start for new coach Manolo Zambrano, who guided his team to its first victory in eight games after replacing the fired Victor Munoz on Monday.

Sinama-Pongolle, who hit the post earlier in the game, swiveled to fire his first goal in the 18th minute. The Frenchman doubled his tally eight minutes later when he turned home a bouncing cross from left back Poli Fernandez, who was ejected in the closing stages. Espanyol reduced the deficit in the 40th through Ewerthon, who was making his debut.

Atletico striker Diego Forlan scored twice as his team won at Santander for their first victory in four league games.

Valencia, which ended a nine-game winless streak by beating Valladolid last weekend, continued their revival with another victory against strugglers Betis.

Striker David Villa opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he seized on a pass from left back Emiliano Moretti and fired home. David Silva slid in the second goal eight minutes later although Villa appeared to handle before passing to his teammate.

Betis forward Edu Schmidt headed home to halve Valencia’s lead in the 47th, only for Villa to seal the victory with a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area in the 89th.

Osasuna eased its relegation worries with a victory over Zaragoza thanks to Jaroslav Plasil’s goal on the stroke of halftime. Bilbao also boosted their survival hopes by edging past last-placed Levante through striker Fernando Llorente’s 55th-minute header.

Substitute Alberto Paloschi finished superbly with his first touch to hand a lethargic AC Milan a 1-0 win over Siena on Sunday, adds a report from Milan.

The 18-year-old youth team striker found the far corner from the edge of the area on 63 minutes to help Milan go up to fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Fiorentina, who drew 2-2 at Atalanta on Saturday.

Third-placed Juventus also struggled until Mauro Camoranesi and Vincenzo Iaquinta netted in the second half to grab a 2-1 win at Udinese after Andrea Dossena had given the hosts an early lead.

Strugglers Empoli beat Lazio 1-0 at home, bottom side Cagliari drew 1-1 with Parma and Torino came from behind to defeat a rapidly falling Palermo 3-1.

Sampdoria's good home form continued with a 2-0 win over Napoli while Livorno and Genoa drew 1-1.