Villarreal 0-5 Real Madrid
After a slow first half, Real Madrid turned on the style in the second to send Villarreal crashing to their worst home defeat in six years.
Wesley Sneijder was the star of the show, scoring two fabulous goals, but it was a team effort as Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Guti all chipped in as Real Madrid sent out a massive warning to those willing to challenge them for their title.
It wasn't plain sailing early on, as Villarreal started strong and dominated possession. However, the Yellow Submarines failed to make the most of their chances, and once Raul scored in the 37th minute, the writing looked on the wall.
Real Madrid played clinically, no player wanting to take a second touch, and finished equally well to thrash Villarreal in the second half.
The opening exchanges saw Villarreal looking to impress their style of play on the game as they passed the ball across the midfield, while the visitors were intent on moving forward as quickly, and effectively as possible.
Despite the home team looking the more comfortable it was Robinho that went the closest to breakng the deadlock when he was put through by Van Nistelrooy before firing wide of the far post from an angle.
Jon Dahl Tomasson kept himself busy, but the Big Dane found no joy as he came up against Christoph Metzelder and FabiO Cannavaro, while his striker partner, Giuseppe Rossi, dropped back to help in midfield.
Marcos Senna sent a free-kick into the area, but it evaded the heads of three Villarreal players and Casillas clutched the ball to his chest. Madrid then broke straight to the other end and Sebastian Viera had to save at the feet of Raúl as the visitors' skipper closed in on goal.
Madrid began to settle into their stride as half-time approach and their play was rewarded when Raúl opened the scoring eight minutes before the break.
Sneijder played a telling pass from the right and the visitors' captain raced past the two Villarreal central defenders to reach the ball with an out-stretched leg before Sebastian Viera and prod it over the keeper and into the net.
The game was expected to open up and Manolo Pellegrini's team came out looking to press forward in search of an equaliser, but instead left too much space at the other end and were punished.
Villarreal left themselves with a mountain to climb after a stunning free-kick from Sneijder puts Madrid two ahead. The Dutchman took aim on the right hand side of the area and lifted his shot into the top near corner of the net.
It was game over when los Merengues went three goals up just two minutes later when Sergio Ramos slid a diagonal pass across the area where Van Nistelrooy controlled the ball at the far post and slotted it back across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Instead of employing damage limitation, Villarreal threw more attacking players into the fray but hey were unable to have any effect and rarely troubled Casillas, despite enjoying periods of possession around the Madrid area.
In the 72nd minute any thoughts the hosts had of mounting a comeback were gone when Sneijder picked the ball up on the edge of the area and curled it with the outside of his foot inside the near post before wheeling away to celebrate.
If that was not enough, with 11 minutes remaining Guti added his name to the scoresheet with a fifth goal as he controlled the ball on the edge of the area with his right foot before curling into the bottom corner of Viera's net with his left.
Even in the closing minutes, Villarreal looked to restore some pride, but it was far too little and far too late.
The Fabio Capello era was well and truly put to bed as Schuster's attacking preferences came to the fore and sent a message to the rest of the league that los Merengues will be defending their title, but this time with some flair.
Villarreal: Viera, Javi Venta, Cygan, Fuentes, Capdevilla, Josico (Matías Fernández, 55’), Marcos Senna, Pires (Cani, 67’), Rossi (Guille Franco, 55’), Cazorla & Tomasson.
Real Madrid: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Drenthe, Robinho, Guti, Diarra (Gago, 77’), Sneijder (Baptista,77’) , Raúl (Heinze, 57’) & Van Nistelrooy.
Goals:
0-1, 38'. Raúl.0-2, 49'. Sneijder, free-kick.
0-3, 50'. Van Nistelrooy.
0-4, 71'. Sneijder.
0-5, 79'. Guti.
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