BARCELONA ( Associated Press) – Pedri enjoyed his first 100 games with Barcelona, scoring the winning goal for the second day in a row.
The young midfielder got the Catalans out of a jam with a plug-in, giving them a 1-0 win against Girona on Saturday to establish themselves at the lead of Spanish La Liga.
Pedri sent an oblique pass from Jordi Alba into the net, which slipped past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, and was pushed into the net after only 61 minutes.
unbeaten (eight wins and one draw); It is six above Real Madrid, who will settle their Matchday 19 clash when they host Real Sociedad on Sunday.
“I think in these areas you have to win anyway. We can play better, but in these games away, against rivals who play well, it is very important to win”, said Barca’s French defender Jules Cunde. Having a clean sheet is important. Defense is the job of the whole team, not just the defensive line. They are all doing a good job.”
Pedri came on as a substitute after 25 minutes for the injured Ousmane Dembele. He scored the winning goal for the second day in a row in the absence of star Robert Lewandowski due to suspension.
The young Barca midfielder thus enjoyed his 100th game in the Quele shirt, with which he scored 15 goals.
Lewandowski complied with a third and final suspension double of expulsions against Osasuna ahead of the Qatar World Cup break.
On dates that he was not due for this punishment, Barca beat Atlético, Getafe and now Girona by the same score.
The polls will be available to return on Wednesday when Barca visit Betis to settle the pending clash for Matchday 17 due to the participation of both teams in the Spanish Super Cup held a couple of weeks ago in Saudi Arabia.
Girona went for an equalizer down the stretch, but was unable to score despite having a great chance from Ivan Martín with an open frame that finished offside. After being unable to keep their goals against in all the championship matches, they remained steady in 12th place with 21 points.
It was Barca’s 14th game of the course in which goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen did not concede a goal.
Cadiz left the regulation area
Theo Bongonda opened the scoring after 10 minutes, while Alex Fernández converted a 38th-minute penalty to give Cadiz a 2–0 home win against Mallorca, which resulted in them leaving the relegation zone.
The team from Cadiz rose to 15th place after the first day with 19 units to be safe from losing the category for the first time.
The Balearic team, led by Mexican coach Javier Aguirre, finished tenth with 25 points.
