Villarreal demolish Rayo Vallecano to surge into second in La Liga

Villarreal maintained their impressive early season form with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, provisionally overtaking Barcelona to secure second position in La Liga on Saturday.

Champions Barcelona entertain Elche on Sunday. League frontrunners Real Madrid host Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu later that day.

Manager Marcelino Garcia Toral's Villarreal drew to just four points behind Madrid courtesy of their dominant victory at home against 10th placed Rayo.

The star for Villarreal proved to be creative midfielder Alberto Moleiro, who arrived from Las Palmas during the summer transfer window. He delivered an outstanding solo strike and assisted a further goal during the match at the Estadio de la Ceramica.

"I'm very happy, I'm finding my form more and more, and my team-mates make things easy for me, adapting at the start was a little tricky," Moleiro told DAZN.

"We knew that (we could go second), we have to keep focussing on our next game."

Seasoned forward Gerard Moreno broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, finding the net for the second match running.

The 33 year old attacker shook off Pep Chavarria inside the penalty area using deft touches before rifling the ball into the opposite corner.

Moleiro extended the lead to two goals following the half time interval, surging ahead from midfield, and with Rayo failing to close him down, he coolly converted from beyond the box.

The playmaker then laid on the third for Santi Comesana just two minutes afterwards.

Ayoze Perez notched his opening goal of the term to complete Villarreal's fourth, as the player starts to rebuild his rhythm post injury layoff.

"We were not good in our defending, marking, it's a game where we can keep learning," said Rayo goalkeeper Augusto Batalla.

"We can't go crazy because of a bad afternoon, that's what today was and we have to continue."