Five goals from Fernando Morientes in Real Madrid's 7-0 thrashing of Las Palmas yesterday sent the champions back to the top of the table and ended a run of four league games without a win.

However, it's tight at the top. Valencia could only draw 0-0 with Celta Vigo on Saturday but they only trail Madrid on goal difference, both clubs having 43 points fron 25 games.

Las Palmas have never won a league game in Madrid in 30 visits and never looked like making their own bit of history against Real, who become the first team in the top flight of Spanish football for more than a year to put seven past an opponent.

Morientes headed home Real's first goal after 20 minutes, connecting with a Luis Figo cross, and the pair repeated exactly the same trick 15 minutes later.

"This is probably the best game of my career," said Morientes. "I have not scored five goals in a game since I was a youngster."

Real Sociedad got a valuable win at home to Real Zaragoza to ensure that their Welsh coach John Toshack stays at the helm of the San Sebastian side for at least another week.

Meanwhile, Bologna dealt a severe blow to Inter Milan's Italian first division title aspirations yesterday pulling off a deserved 2-1 win at the Stadio Dell'Ara.

Second-half goals from Fabio Pecchia and Lamberto Zauli killed off Inter despite a consolation goal from Clarence Seedorf.

Champions AS Roma shared a 0-0 draw with closest challengers Juventus at the Olympic Stadium last night to remain top of the Serie A table by a single point from their rivals from Turin.

It was a day to forget for Lazio whose miserable run continued with a 1-0 defeat at Parma, courtesy of the prolific Marco Di Vaio who ironically is a Lazio fan.

Lazio's fellow underachievers AC Milan again failed to impress, having to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to nine-man Perugia at the San Siro.

Inter cannot complain about their defeat as Bologna dominated but did not break through until 10 minutes into the second period when midfielder Pecchia scored.