Pedro prevented FC Barcelona from breaking an unwanted 53-year record against Cadiz.
FC Barcelona midfielder Pedri, with help from Ferran Torres, prevented the Catalans from breaking an unwanted 50-year record on Sunday night when they picked up their first win of the season by beating Cadiz 2-0 at home.
Barca still made history in their 2023/2024 debut at temporary home the Montjuic Stadium, or rather Lamine Yamal did.
Selected by Xavi in the absence of Raphinha, who was red-carded last time out against Getafe, the 16-year-old became his boyhood club’s youngest ever debutant in La Liga.
The youngster went off to a standing ovation after playing a full 85 minutes and was impressive yet again.
He should have been awarded a penalty in the first half after being hacked down, while also coming close to scoring his first senior goal with a shot knocked just past the post.
Barca once again had a couple of valid penalty shouts, but looked as though they were well on their way to breaking an unwanted 50-year record amid Gavi hitting the bar with a header and substitute Ez Abde coming close with a shot palmed out of the top corner.
Had Barca not eventually scored, it would have been the first time that they started a La Liga campaign goalless in their maiden two outings since 1973.
With eight minutes to spare, however, Pedri, in the advanced false left winger position, “showed his face” as the saying goes in Spanish.
Scrapping around the edge of the box, he latched onto a wonderful Ilkay Gundogan through ball then had to go to ground to slide his effort past Jeremias Ledesma into the back of the net.
A crowd of 39,000 in the Montjuic Stadium went wild, and probably sighed a breath of relief knowing that Barca had finally gotten off the mark and would probably finish the proceedings just two points shy of Real Madrid, who have two wins from two thus far.
Deep into stoppage time, Yamal’s replacement Ferran made sure of this by doubling the scoreline.
Pointing to his name and new number 7 on the back of his shirt after converting, the Spain international will have hoped to have done enough to knock Yamal out of Xavi’s first team plans – though that is easier said than done.
Next up is a tricky away trip to Villarreal on Sunday where the heat will be unbearable at 17.30 local time, during the height of the Spanish summer.
Denial of responsibility! My Droll is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
