体坛英语新闻：Barcelona sets midterm record in Spain's matchday 19

MADRID, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Football club Barcelona swept past Deportivo la Coruna to win 5-0 in the Camp Nou on Saturday night to set a new record in Spain's Primera Liga.

    Goals from Leo Messi and two each from Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o gave Barcelona another thrilling win and means they have reached the halfway point of the Primera Liga season with 50 points from just 19 matches.

    Barcelona's 19 matches to date have seen 16 wins, two draws and just one defeat, which came on the opening day of the campaign against next week's rival Numancia.

    Since the system of three points for a win was established no side has ever had a first half to the campaign as good as that of Pep Guardiola's team.

    Saturday also saw Sevilla win at home. The 1-0 win against Numancia, thanks to a late Renato goal, left them 12 points behind Barcelona.

    With the change of Real Madrid president last week, there was a lot of attention in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium where Real Madrid entertained bottom of the table Osasuna.

    New president Vicente Boluda's reign got off to a dreadful start when Javed Nekouman gave the visitors a shock half time lead. Sergio Ramos, Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben turned it around in the second half to make it 3-1 to Real Madrid.

    Osasuna coach Jose Antonio Camacho was furious, however, at referee Perez Burrull, who not only turned down two clear penalty appeals, but on top of that sent Juanfran off for diving.

    Athletic Bilbao won a thrilling game 3-2 at home to Valencia. Athletic came from behind twice in the first half before Fernando Llorente converted an injury time penalty to give the Basque side all three points.

    Valencia stayed fourth in the table, while Athletic moved up to ninth after a nine-game unbeaten run.

    Atletico Madrid still has not won in 2009. Javier Aguirre's team could only draw 1-1 away to Almeria.

    The other two sides that started Sunday in the relegation zone, Mallorca and Espanyol, both lost. Mallorca fell to a 2-0 defeat in Villarreal, thanks to first half goals from Joan Capdevila and Giuseppe Rossi, while Espanyol were thrashed 4-0 in Malaga.

    Espanyol has still to win a game under new coach Mane, who could be sacked if his side loses its midweek King's Cup game against Barcelona. Meanwhile Malaga completed the best first half to a season in the history of the club.

    Elsewhere, Betis ended a losing streak in the league with a 3-1win in Valladolid, while Getafe's recent slump continued with a 1-0 home defeat against Racing Santander.

    Nicola Zigic won the game for Racing with his second goal since returning on loan from Valencia.

    Finally Recreativo Huelva got a good home win 2-0 over Sporting Gijon to lift the team five points clear of the relegation zone.