La Liga: Pedri, Torres snatch Barca win over Cadiz in new home

Pedri and Ferran Torres’ late strikes earned La Liga champions Barcelona a 2-0 win over Cadiz in their first competitive home game away from Camp Nou on Sunday.

Playing at the Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill while their stadium is rebuilt and upgraded over the next year-and-a-half, Barcelona were nearly thwarted by the visitors.

After Getafe held them to a frustrating goalless draw on the opening weekend, Cadiz almost managed the same feat until Ilkay Gundogan cleverly released Pedri to score.

Substitute Torres drove through the middle and tucked home in stoppage time to put gloss on what was another unconvincing performance.

“We suffered again but we won, which was the most important thing to gain confidence,” Frenkie de Jong told Movistar.

“All games are very important and Barca always have to win — when you get to the 70th minute and you haven’t scored, it’s harder.”

Barca coach Xavi Hernandez, banned from the dugout after being sent off against Getafe, selected 16-year-old Lamine Yamal on the right in place of the suspended Raphinha, also dismissed last weekend.

Yamal, on his first start for the club, came closest for the Catalans in the first half with an angled strike expertly tipped to safety by Jeremias Ledesma.

The forward thrilled nearly 40,000 fans — there were around 10,000 empty seats with a low uptake on season tickets because of the temporary move from Camp Nou.

At the other end Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen went one better with a superb save to deny Roger Marti one-on-one, after Alejandro Balde gave the ball away on the halfway line.