Atletico Madrid took advantage of Real Madrid's defeat against Barcelona to move five points ahead of their city rivals in second place and a point behind the leaders from Catalonia as they piled the misery on Betis, who are now in the relegation zone.
Youngster Oliver Torres put Atletico ahead as early as in the first minute, before David Villa rediscovered his scoring touch with two early goals in the second half and Diego Costa added to the win with his 11th goal of the campaign with 25 minutes remaining with Gabi scoring a fifth in injury time Sunday, reports Xinhua.
The 5-0 win at Vicente Calderon helped Atletico move to within a point of Barca who beat Real Madrid 2-1 in El Clasico Saturday.
Villarreal remain fourth after Giovani Dos Santos led their 4-1 thrashing of Valencia. The Mexican forward scored his side's last two goals of the game and was a handful for the Valencia defence in the entirre game.
He played a major part in the goals scored by Uche and Hernan Perez which put his side in control of the match.
Sevilla defeated 10-man Osasuna 2-1 in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium with goals from Igor Rakitic and Jairo after Damia had been sent off late in the first half for the visitors. Oriol Riera netted a late consolation for the visitors.
Meanwhile, Almeria remain bottom of the table and without a win after losing 0-3 away to Real Sociedad. The result once again puts the future of Almeria coach Francisco Rodriguez in doubt.