APCristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Valencia

The oldest cliché in the football book is that it is a game of two halves. That being the case, Valencia's attempt to avenge its controversial King's Cup match last Tuesday was exactly that. Jose Mourinho's team shattered Mestalla's hopes and dreams of league vengeance in a whirlwind 45 minutes.

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An early strike from Gonzalo Higuain set the tone for the evening as Real tore through Valencia's back four at will. The Argentinean striker quickly knocked the wind out of the home side's bright start on the eastern coast and Valencia could - probably should - have been two down had he latched on to an Alvaro Arbeloa cross.

Higuain made no mistake from his compatriot a minute afterward. The striker profited from Angel di Maria's license to roam the flanks and preyed in the eighth minute to rifle home a left-footed shot from the winger's lay-off after good work on the left side from Mesut Ozil.

It was on that flank that Valencia's night would be sealed as Real, time and again, broke with impunity.

Jose Mourinho looked on impassively as Madrid's Dr Jekyll handed Valencia a proper first-half hiding. The Real coach had remonstrated with Di Maria - every movement captured on "Marcacam" - suggesting he had taken his foot off the gas after securing a new contract in the wake of a toothless 0-0 tie at Osasuna.

These fly on the wall sources, so beloved of Marca and ever-keen to feed on the corpse of a bad result, claimed that the Real coach had given Cristiano Ronaldo a similar dressing down after the King's Cup match against Valencia in the Bernabeu. "It was a difference of opinion, nothing more," said Raul Albiol.

Whatever the recent exchanges of thought in the Real locker room, there were certainly no flies of any kind on Real Madrid in Mestalla.

Both Di Maria and Ronaldo turned in performances worthy of their standing. The Argentinean score twice and had a hand in every Real goal. Ronaldo added a brace and once again led from the front in a match where there was no margin for any hint of an error. Real made none as it punished every slip from the home side to threaten the Valencia goal on each foray forward.

Sami Khedira had two gilt-edged chances to compound Valencia's woe but was denied by the stop-stopping reflexes of Diego Alves, a front runner for the soon-to-vacant number 1 shirt at Barcelona.

Was this man management at its finest by Mourinho? Only the "flies" can confirm that. But what is certain is that had Real played every match this season as it did the first 45 in Mestalla, Barcelona's loss at Real Sociedad would have been far more significant. As it stands, a thorough schooling of the past few seasons' third-best side only served to show that Real on its day is still a force to be reckoned with - but not one prevailing enough to alter the wind of change in 2012-13.

However, unless Ernesto Valverde shores up that back line before Wednesday, there's little doubt that a clasico encounter awaits in the King's Cup semi-finals. Although Malaga still has more than a little say about that eventual outcome, of course.

Mourinho's experiment in public relations concerning Iker Casillas seems to have run its course, and Di Maria is back on song.

Like Jekyll and Hyde, there are two Real Madrids at Mourinho's beck and call this season. The first should not dwell too long on the league. Despite Barcelona's loss to an inspired Real Sociedad, the title race is still a battle lost. If Real can turn it on for 45 minutes as it did in Mestalla, the other two competitions still hold infinite possibilities.

The stage is set for the next step in the club's bid for silverware at Mestalla on Wednesday. On Sunday's showing, Valencia will not be looking forward to it.

Neither will Sir Alex Ferguson have been blind to this match following dropped points at Tottenham on Sunday. Manchester United is patching over its problems reasonably convincingly in the Premier League but the irony of the Scot furiously motioning to his watch with a little over a minute of stoppage time played was lost on nobody.

United is not in its finest hour. Neither is Real, but after thrashing Valencia in half a game in such style, Mourinho would happily take United this week instead of the same opposition again.

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