Klaas Jan Huntelaar continued his rich vein of goalscoring form with a brace as Real Madrid kept up the pressure on Primera Liga leaders Barcelona with a comfortable victory over Almeria.
Huntelaar failed to score in any of his first five appearances for Madrid following his big-money move from Ajax during the winter, but the Dutchman has now netted eight in six since then.
The impressive Marcelo grabbed the other goal as Juande Ramos' side made it 37 points from a possible 39 in their last 13 league games and leave Almeria coach Hugo Sanchez, the legendary former Madrid striker, empty-handed on his return to the Bernabeu.
Marcelo's 23rd-minute opener was undoubtedly the highlight of a low-key first half in which neither goalkeeper had too much to do on a warm day in the Spanish capital.
Almeria's defense must have thought the worst had passed when they managed to block Wesley Sneijder's free-kick on the edge of the box and the rebound fell to Marcelo's much-weaker right foot.
Marcelo had spurned a decent shooting opportunity earlier in the match because he could not get it on his favoured left foot, so few would have expected him to even try his luck with a right-footed half-volley from 25 yards out.
But the Brazil international could not have connected better with his shot, sending an unstoppable rising effort into the roof of the Almeria net with visiting goalkeeper Diego Alves virtually motionless.
That was only Marcelo's second league goal of the season, but the 20-year-old defender, who has flourished since being pushed into a more advanced role by Ramos, might have been celebrating a hat-trick before the hour-mark as Madrid overcome a slow start to take control.
Five minutes into the second half he earned a shooting opportunity following some determined work by Sneijder and fired a rasping shot against the crossbar from a tight angle.
Then two minutes later he brought a brilliant low save out of Alves with a shot from near the penalty spot.
Almeria's fortune ran out from the resulting corner though as the ball kindly to Huntelaar 10 yards out and the in-form Dutchman slammed a thunderous left-footed shot high into the net.
That goal pretty much settled the game as a contest and after that it was only a case of how many goals Madrid would run up, with Almeria still struggling to produce much going forward.
Gabriel Heinze almost added to his tally of two goals for the season when he saw his header from a corner cleared off the line by Jose Ortiz, before Huntelaar made it 3-0 in the 65th minute with a goal that had a heavy Dutch influence.
Sneijder's superb through-ball put Arjen Robben away and although his shot was saved by Alves, Huntelaar was on hand to volley home the rebound.
Almeria had a chance to pull a goal back soon after when Corona got in behind the home defense, but fortunately for Madrid Iker Casillas was alert to the danger and was able to save.
That was virtually the first threat Casillas had to face since the seventh minute, when Kalu Uche's close-range header forced the Spain custodian into an early save.
Ortiz also had a late chance to pull a goal back for the visitors after latching onto a dismal Robben back-pass, but he fired wide as Madrid held onto their three-goal victory.
