Real Madrid opened up a seven point lead at the top of the BBVA Primera Liga this Saturday thanks to a comfortable 3-1 win at home to Zaragoza, coupled with FC Barcelona's failure to win away to Villarreal.

The results mean that Madrid, who were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Barca in midweek have a comfortable cushion at the top of the table, even thought Barcelona have only lost one game this season.

Barcelona were frustrated by a solid defensive display from Villarreal, for whom keeper Diego Lopez made a string of saves and when he was unable to make a save, 11 minutes from time he was helped out by the crossbar.

Barca lacked spark in the first half and with several players out through injury, they looked to have paid for their efforts in midweek.

Real Madrid were not at their best either, but Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil scored they came back from a goal down against the side bottom of the table in Spain to achieve what ended up as a comfortable win.

Zaragoza took a surprise lead after 11 minutes when the Madrid defense went to sleep allowing Carlos Aranda to control a quickly taken free kick and cross for Angel Lafita to slide the ball home.

Madrid's first response was a header from Kaka, which went wide and the Brazilian was guilty of slicing a shot wide soon after as he arrived unmarked at the edge of the penalty area.

It was third time lucky for the Brazilian, however, as he scored the equalizer after 31 minutes. He collected a through ball and ran into the area to beat Roberto with a low shot.

Four minutes after the restart Benzema found Ozil out on the right and the midfielder slid the ball over for Ronaldo to slide into an empty net to give Madrid the lead.

After 56 minutes it was Ozil' s turn to score as he was set through by Kaka to blast a left foot shot past Roberto.

That was virtually the last action of note as Madrid looked to conserve energy against a side that never looked like getting back into the match.

Saturday kicked off with Fernando Llorente his first ever league hat-trick as Athletic Club Bilbao won a thrilling game 3-2 away to Rayo Vallecano, while Vladimir Weiss' first half goal gave Espanyol a 1-0 victory at home to Mallorca.