Betis 1 - Espanyol 4

Betis: Prats; Varela, Juanito, Lembo, Castellini; Arzu (Alfonso 46'); Joaquín, Fernando, Capi (Marcos Assunçao 25'), Edu (Dani 77'); Oliveira. 4-2-3-1.
Espanyol: Kameni; Jarque, Lopo, Pochettino, David García; Maxi (Corominas 81'), Ito (Fredson 76'), Alex Fernández (Morales 66'), Oscar Serrano; Dani, Tamudo. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Betis: Varela, Capi, Edu for Melli, Marcos Assunçao, Ismael / Espanyol: Alex Fernández for De la Peña.

Goals:
0-1. 18. Maxi. Low shot past Prats after Dani played back David García's cross.
0-2. 41. Dani. Intercepted back pass by Assunçao and rounded keeper to score.
1-2. 50. Edu. Header down from Varela's long cross which bounced past Kameni.
1-3. 52. Maxi. Picked up loose ball in area and dribbled past Prats to score.
1-4. 65. Maxi. Collected Tamudo's pass and shot into top of net from close up.

A hat-trick from Maxi Rodríguez helped Espanyol to a 1-4 win over a poor Betis side, the Catalans' best start to a season in seven years. The visitors laid down the gauntlet in the first minute when Dani hit the post, and after Oliveira missed an easy chance at the other end, Maxi opened the scoring after Dani and David García combined to set him up. Serra Ferrer was forced to take off the injured Capi midway through the first half, bringing on Marcos Assunçao who had not started the match as he was still recovering from laryngitis. But the Brazilian midfielder was at fault close to half time, Dani intercepting his bad back pass and rounding Prats to score.

Betis appeared to be back in the game when new signing Edu headed a long cross down past Kameni, the ball passing through the hands of the otherwise excellent Camerooni keeper. But almost immediately Oscar Serrano led an attack up the other end, and his half-cleared cross fell to Maxi for him to make space and shoot into an empty net. And less than a quarter of an hour later the Argentine youth international drove a shot in to the net after Tamudo laid the ball back to complete the rout and take his side up into fourth spot in the table. Many local fans left with a quarter of the game still to go, but those that stayed gave their players a hard time at the end.