Barcelona 2-0 Cadiz – Pedri and Ferran Torres score late as Catalans edge past plucky opponents in scrappy home opener

Barcelona left it late to finally record their first goals of the Liga season, as Pedri latched onto Ilkay Gundogan’s deft pass to break a determined Cadiz side and secure the win that was later wrapped up by a fine team goal finished off by Ferran Torres.

It would have been the first time in 50 years that Barcelona had gone goalless in their first two games of the Liga season, but Pedri offloaded to Gundogan then ghosted into the penalty area and slid in to put the German’s return pass in the net. Then in added time Robert Lewandowski teed up Torres to slot home the second.

Before those goals, Jules Kounde, Lamine Yamal, Oriol Romeu and Lewandowski all missed chances to get the reigning champions off the mark – with Ledesma producing a seemingly superhuman performance between the sticks.

In front of just 39,603 fans while Camp Nou undergoes renovations, 16-year-old Yamal was the brightest Barcelona spark on his first La Liga start, doing everything except a goal intervention.

For the longest time, it seemed Sergio Gonzalez’s side were going to deny the hosts, frequently putting nine men behind the ball while Chris Ramos and Roger Marti were a constant threaten on the break.

Alongside the indomitable Ledesma, Fali was a physical presence at the back.

However, they did go close on a number of occasions. Pedri, Gavi and Lewandowski all fashioned free headers for themselves that sailed just past the goal.

Just when it seemed Barca would be frustrated, Pedri found the target as Barca recorded their first win of the season.

Lionel Messi made his La Liga debut at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, and if Yamal can have even half of Messi’s career then he’ll retire a legend.

And as first starts go in La Liga, there’s certainly been a lot worse. Yamal was the standout player of the first half, forming a fantastic double-act that bordered on telepathy with Kounde.

The pair were a headache for Javi Hernandez all evening, finding plenty of space to drive into the penalty area.

Yamal fashioned one of the best chances of the first half when he pickpocketed Hernandez and shaped a wonderful curling effort to Ledesma’s left, the Argentine at full stretch to just turn the ball around his post.

However, a drop of 66,000 season tickets sold by Barcelona compared to last term didn’t go unnoticed for their first ‘home’ game of the season.

A sea of empty seats was visible ahead of kick-off and the announced attendance was 15,000 short of capacity at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium.

Barcelona have sold just over 17,000 season tickets for the coming season despite slashing prices, and try as they might the fans in attendance were unable to produce a formidable home atmosphere.

There was one man who was able to deny Yamal, if not send the smaller Barcelona support home with dampened spirits.

Sporting Conan on his back, it seemed like he was going to have the last laugh over Barcelona after a string of wonder-saves in the first half.

That Yamal effort wasn’t even his highlight – his left-handed reaction flap to deny Kounde needed several replays to fully appreciate just how Ledesma stopped what looked a certain goal.

And Barcelona almost looked cowed to take the Argentine on in the second half, repeatedly launching crosses into the box that Ledesma could easily deal with, he proved a commanding aerial presence in the Cadiz penalty area.

But there was little he could’ve done to stop Pedri’s game-breaking effort, Cadiz’s defensive line pulled out of shape by Lewandowski and Ledesma unable to reach it in time.

Barcelona: Ter Stegen 8, Gavi 7, Pedri 8, Lewandowski 6, Christensen 7, Romeu 5, De Jong 7, Gundogan 7, Kounde 8, Yamal 8, Balde 7

Subs: Abde 6, Fati 7, Roberto 6, Ferran 8, Garcia 6

Cadiz: Ledesma 9, Fali 8, Alcaraz 5, A Fernandez 6, Alejo 7, J Hernandez 5, Ramos 6, Iza 5, Marti 6, L Hernandez 6, San Emeterio 6

Subs: Negredo 5, Mari 6, Machis 5, Sobrino 6, Osmajic 6

16’ – Barcelona go close! It was a dangerous free-kick from that Alejo foul, Andreas Christensen kept the ball alive at the back post and Pedri found himself with a free header and Robert Lewandowski across the six-yard-box with an open goal. But the midfielder was caught in two minds and hit his effort straight at Ledesma.

26’ – Double-yellow card for Barcelona! Cadiz haven’t showed much in attack over the last 20 minutes and looked to counter there, before Frenkie de Jong hacked down Ruben Alcaraz. Barcelona protest that he got his foot to the ball, but that backfires as Marc-Andre ter Stegen also earns a booking.

29’ – Huge chance for Yamal! He’s been making threatening runs for much of the first half-hour and this time it nearly paid off, Yamal pickpocketed Javi Hernandez in the Cadiz box and looked to have curled his shot perfectly into the bottom-left corner. However, Ledesma underlined his status as one of the best goalkeepers in the league, diving at full stretch to tip it round the post.

33’ Amazing save by Ledesma! Barcelona have just had their best attack of the half, but Ledesma remains a brick wall in the Cadiz net. Kounde evidently fancies himself as a striker, he showed perfectly timed movement off the last man to earn himself a volley one-on-one, but Ledesma produced a brilliant reaction flap with his left arm to keep it out.

34’ – Cadiz go close! How is this game 0-0?!? Ter Stegen has evidently decided anything Ledesma does, he can do better – Marti robbed De Jong and surged towards the goal with just Ter Stegen to beat. But he went for an ill-advised chip that the German could easily deal with.

82’ GOAL!!! BARCELONA 1-0 CADIZ: Pedri puts Barca ahead from a Gundogan assist! The score came out of nothing really, Barcelona shaped up another attack with Gundogan pulling the strings on the edge of the area. But Pedri just ghosted through off the defensive line and Gundogan poked the perfect pass through with the outside of his foot, Pedri finishing on the slide past the onrushing Ledesma.

90’+4 – GOAL!!! BARCELONA 2-0 CADIZ: Ferran Torres raced onto Lewandowski’s header with a perfectly-timed run and slid his shot under Ledesma to score.

• 76% possession for Barcelona, as Cadiz’s gameplan of sitting deep absorbing pressure nearly paid dividends.
• 81,104 was the attendance at Camp Nou for Barcelona’s first home game of the 2022/23 La Liga season.