Real Madrid ensured they will head into a big week full of confidence with a 5-0 thrashing of Levante ahead of their meetings with Liverpool and Barcelona.

Cristiano Ronaldo stretched his fine scoring streak at club level to nine games as he opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Javier Hernandez headed home to double Madrid's lead before half-time.

Ronaldo powered home his 15th league goal in just seven appearances this season to make it 3-0 before sweet finishes from James Rodriguez and Isco rounded of a seventh consecutive win for the European champions.

Madrid now lie just a point adrift of leaders Barcelona, but the Catalans can restore their four-point advantage with a win over Eibar later on Saturday.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti is hoping Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos will be able to overcome their respective injury problems for the trip to Anfield on Wednesday.

"I think we are arriving well into this week. We had a difficult game to prepare here, but we played very well and seriously. We were very concentrated and it all went well," said Ancelotti. "Now we have time to, firstly recover some players, and then think about the game on Wednesday."