Barcelona, Spain (AFP) — Kylian Mbappe struck twice as Real Madrid romped to a 4-0 win over Valencia on Saturday to move seven points clear at the top of La Liga.

Villarreal continued their strong start to the season by thrashing Rayo Vallecano 4-0 to climb above champions Barcelona into second place provisionally.

Atletico Madrid earned a comfortable 3-0 win over Sevilla to tighten their grip on fourth and pull level on points with champions Barca, who host Elche on Sunday, looking to cut Madrid’s lead back to five points.

After Mbappe’s double, Jude Bellingham and Alvaro Carreras also scored for rampant Real as they racked up an easy victory ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Liverpool.

Vinicius started on the left of Madrid’s attack after he apologised for his high-profile sulk following his substitution in the Clasico win over Barcelona last weekend.

The Brazilian missed a penalty in the first half after appearing to ask Mbappe to take it, but otherwise turned in a decent performance.

“I want them to score the penalties, they are good opportunities,” Real Madrid Coach Alonso told reporters.

Mbappe netted a penalty to open the scoring and Alonso confirmed the French superstar is the man tasked with taking the spot kicks.

“The first was scored by Kylian, and the second I would have liked to be scored too, but it’s not a big topic, Kylian is still the first choice taker… [Vinicius] had a very good game,” said Alonso.

Alonso went with arguably his strongest side, despite his team’s advantage in the table and the impending visit to Anfield.

Mbappe’s double and Bellingham’s strike gave Madrid a commanding three-goal lead at the break and effectively finished the game.

Mbappe has now scored 18 goals across all competitions in 14 games and leads the Spanish scoring charts with 12 in La Liga.

“Time will tell [how many he can score], you can’t really extrapolate how many goals he’ll get based on his average [so far],” said Alonso.

“Kylian has that ease of finding the net, of being in the right place…he will score many goals.”

After netting from the spot following a Cesar Tarrega handball, Mbappe volleyed home Arda Guler’s cross for Madrid’s second.

Following Vinicius’s missed penalty, Bellingham brilliantly found the bottom corner with a powerful drive.

The England international has been in sparkling form over the past fortnight, with goals against Juventus and Barcelona.

Madrid cruised through the second half until Carreras smashed home the fourth in the 82nd minute.

The Portuguese left back rifled into the top right corner to score the goal of the night and his first for the club.

“I’m proud, these things happen when they happen, I wasn’t in a hurry, my job is [defending],” said Carreras.

Valencia are winless in six league games and down in 18.