Barca took over top spot after an early goal from Adriano saw Pep Guardiola's side claim a scrappy 1-0 win at bottom club Sporting Gijon, but they find themselves level on 14 points with unfancied Levante.

Levante made it fours wins on the trot after a first-half effort from Juanlu saw them record a 1-0 away victory over Real Betis, who have now lost back-to-back matches after starting the season with four successive victories.

Madrid put behind them disappointing results at Levante and Racing Santander in their last two away matches with a 4-0 mauling of Espanyol.

Higuain, who has largely had to make do with bench duty so far this season, gave Madrid manager Jose Mourinho a firm reminder of his goalscoring prowess with a treble.

The Argentinian grabbed the first of the game after 17 minutes and added two more in the second half, with former Espanyol midfielder Jose Callejon also scoring against his old team-mates after coming off the bench.

Three points take Real to third in the Primera Division table with their fourth win of the campaign.

Elsewhere today, Champions League hopefuls Atletico Madrid and Sevilla shared the points in a goalless draw at the Vicente Calderon while in the day's early kick-off Athletic Bilbao beat local rivals Real Sociedad 2-1 thanks to a brace from star striker Fernando Llorente.

The Spain international scored in each half to earn Athletic coach Marcelo Bielsa the first victory of his reign at the sixth time of asking.

Sociedad had levelled through defender Inigo Martinez's astonishing strike from his own half but were outplayed for the majority of the encounter and had no answer after Llorente's second as Athletic claimed the Basque derby at the Estadio Anoeta.