体坛英语新闻：Barcelona beats Racing, Real Madrid puts 6 past Villarreal

MADRID, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona cruised to an easy win 4-0 at home to Racing Santander on Spain's soccer league match day 23 on Saturday night.

Although missing key players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Dani Alves and Xavi Hernandez, Barca's win was never in doubt from the moment that Andres Iniesta fired them ahead after six minutes.

Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez scored free kicks to make it 3-0 before half time and young substitute Thiago made it 4-0 before half time.

Thiago's entry onto the pitch meant that nine of Barcelona's 11 players in the game were products of their youth system.

Barcelona's win kept the pressure on Real Madrid, who played Villarreal in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium this Sunday.

However, if Real was under pressure it did not show as Manuel Pellegrini's team beat Villarreal 6-2.

Kaka and Gonzalo Higuain each scored twice while Cristiano Ronaldo netted a free kick and Xavi Alonso fired home from the penalty spot as Madrid ran away with the game in the last 20 minutes.

Saturday saw one surprise as Sevilla put an end to Mallorca's 100% home record with a 3-1 win in the ONO Stadium.

Sevilla had to fight back from a goal down and a red card shown to Alvaro Negredo midway through the first half.

Ramis was sent off for Mallorca just before half time, by which time Jesus Navas had cancelled out Mario Suarez's earlier opening.

Dragutinovich and Perotti scored goals on 57 and 62 minutes to strengthen Sevilla's position in fourth place.

Deportivo la Coruna kept the pressure on Sevilla and Mallorca with a hard fought win at home to Xerez.

All of the goals came in the first half. Guardado and Riki put Deportivo 2-0 up after just eight minutes and Mario Bermejo pulled one back for Xerez after 38 minutes.

Xerez worked hard, but was unable to find an equalizer in the second half. The result leaves them rock bottom of the table.

Sunday saw Athletic Club Bilbao cruise home past Tenerife 4-1. The game was over as a contest by 22 minutes, by which time Athletic led 2-0 thanks to a Fernando Llorente penalty and a goal from Gaizka Toquero.

Tenerife lost defender Jose Culebas in the penalty decision and with 10 men had no way back. Andoni Iriola and Igor Gabilondo added further goals for the Basques in the second half.

Malaga's revival continued with a 2-1 home win against Espanyol thanks to goals from Fernando and Obinna.

Valladolid fought out a valuable point away to Osasuna thanks to a magnificent goal from Medunjanin, before Camunas netted a late equalizer for Osasuna as the game ended 1-1.

Zaragoza's mini revival ended with a 3-1 defeat at home to Sporting Gijon.

Bilic and Luis Moran put Sporting 2-0 ahead. Arizmendi pulled one back for the home side in injury time, but David Barral killed off Zaragoza's chances with a strike a minute later.

Atletico Madrid meanwhile returned to business as usual. After a fine display to beat Barcelona last weekend, Atletico lost 1-0 in Almeria.