Madrid - The Spanish league is shaping up to be another two- horse race between twin giants Barcelona and Real Madrid after Wednesday's matches. Real won 2-0 at lowly Villarreal with goals from expensive additions Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, while Athletic Bilbao lost 1-0 at Tenerife and Valencia crashed 3-1 in Getafe.
The results leave Real joint top with Barca - who on Tuesday thrashed Racing Santander 4-1 away - on 12 points. The twin giants have both won their first four games, and Barca remain top on goal difference.
Bilbao now share third place with Sevilla - who beat Mallorca 2-0 on Tuesday - on nine points, while Valencia fall down to joint fifth with Mallorca, both on seven points.
It was a successful return to Villarreal for Real coach Manuel Pellegrini, who established the "Yellow Submarine" as a top team from 2004-09.
Villarreal, who finished fifth last season, have just two points and are second from bottom, level with fellow strugglers Atletico Madrid.
Just as in a 5-0 rout Sunday against Xerez, Ronaldo broke the deadlock after just two minutes, majestically picking his way through the sluggish local defence and scoring with a low drive.
Ronaldo is joint top of the scorers' chart with five goals, level with Lionel Messi of Barca and David Villa of Valencia.
In the 35th minute, with Real fully in control, Villarreal defender Gonzalo Rodriguez earned a second yellow card for kicking Kaka.
With 11 men, Villarreal seemed disjointed, and with 10 they seemed condemned to defeat.
In the 73rd minute, Real were given a hotly disputed penalty for handball by Angel Lopez. Kaka calmly converted to score his first goal in white - and settle the contest.
Pellegrini said: "It is an important triumph because this is a difficult stadium. ... I would like to point out that we were very strong defensively."
He denied that Ronaldo was fired up because of Messi's two goals on Tuesday in Santander.
"(Ronaldo) is stimulated by his great quality," Pellegrini said. "When he is on the field, he wants to be useful for the team."
Ronaldo declared himself "very happy" for the score and the victory. "Villarreal is a team which has a lot of ball possession, but we scored the first goal and afterwards took control of the ball," he said.
Later Wednesday, Athletic Bilbao surprisingly lost at Tenerife on a late goal from Mikel Alonso, elder brother of Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso.
In Wednesday's late game, Getafe came from behind to beat brittle Valencia 3-1.
Villa gave Valencia an early lead until Manu del Moral took advantage of some sloppy defending to score two goals for the hosts before half-time. Pedro Leon made it 3-1 for Getafe with a handsome free-kick in the 69th minute.
Deportivo Coruna had earlier moved up to seventh with a 3-0 win at bottom team Xerez, who already have a doomed look about them.
Crisis club Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, were being held to a 2-2 draw at home to lively Almeria, for whom Argentine Pablo Piatti scored twice.
As usual, the long-suffering fans in the Estadio Calderon jeered their team off the field - and again called for the resignation of embattled club President Enrique Cerezo.
In Wednesday's other early games, Osasuna won 2-1 at Valladolid, and Espanyol came from behind to beat Malaga 2-1.
