'Madrid are a total football machine'

Real Madrid CF president Ramón Calderón hailed his side a "total football machine" after they laid down the gauntlet to their Primera División title rivals by thrashing Real Valladolid CF 7-0 to move eight points clear at the summit.

'More than positive'
Having lost 2-0 to UD Almería last weekend Los Merengues fans could have been forgiven to arriving at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday with some trepidation. They need not have worried. Julio Baptista broke the deadlock on seven minutes and by the time Royston Drenthe wrapped up the win 73 minutes later, Madrid had racked up seven and their biggest league win since Fernando Morientes scored five in a 7-0 triumph over UD Las Palmas in February 2002. "Even with so many injuries, the team responded like that," said coach Bernd Schuster, barely able to contain his joy. "The players did their jobs and you couldn't tell that many of them had barely played together. It's been more than positive."

Birthday present
Victory saw Madrid extend their advantage atop the table to eight points after second-placed FC Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw by Sevilla FC, a feat all the more impressive considering the wealth of talent that was not even available to Schuster. The Bernabéu treatment rooms are currently accommodating Ruud van Nistelrooy, Pepe, Christoph Metzelder, Javier Saviola, Wesley Sneijder, Miguel Torres and Gabriel Heinze. Their absence gave some of the squad's more peripheral players a chance and how they took it. Arjen Robben and substitute Drenthe both struck first league goals for the club they joined last summer, and the former's carried special meaning, with the injury-blighted winger saying: "I dedicate my first league goal to my wife because it's her birthday today. We have gone through tough times together and this goal is for her. Playing the full 90 minutes makes me especially happy, though."

Raúl mark
Robben struck the third goal after Raúl González had made it 2-0, and the Madrid captain went on to score two in what was his 469th Primera División appearance – a record now bettered by only nine others. Guti registered twice too as Madrid won at a canter to leave Valladolid shell-shocked and Madrid president Ramón Calderón purring that "Madrid are a total football machine". If the machine keeps hurtling along at this rate, a second successive title will be a formality.