In celebration of his 100th appearance for Barcelona, Pedri came off the bench in the second half and scored from close range to give the LaLiga leaders a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Girona on Saturday.
After the Girona defense made a number of other mistakes, the 20-year-old scored in the 61st minute when the goalkeeper failed to hold on to a cross from Jordi Alba.
With 47 points, Barcelona leads bitter rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and will host third-place Real Sociedad on Sunday. Barcelona is six points ahead of Real Madrid. With 21 points, Girona is 12th.
On a chilly afternoon at Montilivi, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez made the decision to rotate his team because forwards Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres were suspended and midfielder Pedri was still recovering from muscle pain.
He rested important players like Alejandro Balde and Andreas Christensen, but Eric Garcia, a former Manchester City defender, started for the first time in more than three months.
However, after Ousmane Dembele was substituted in the 25th minute with what appeared to be a muscle injury, Pedri was called into action sooner than he would have anticipated.
Barcelona struggled to score against Girona's low block in the first half, despite having nearly 70% possession.
Barca didn't have their first shot until the 40th minute, when Pedri's weak effort was easily stopped by the goalkeeper.
In defense, Girona displayed remarkable discipline by remaining compact in a deep position and successfully defending the space in front of the goal to annoy Barcelona's forwards.
When Barca midfielder Pedri pounced on a low cross that goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga was unable to gather, Pedri scored at the far post.
As Girona made a late push for a point, they missed an Arnau Martinez effort in the 65th minute and missed a golden chance to even the score in the 88th when Ivan Martin missed a sitter from close range.
After making the most of their one clear opportunity, Barcelona lost the game with just three shots on goal.
Jules Kounde, a defender for Barcelona, stated to DAZN, "I believe that you have to win it in any way possible" during these games.
"We can play better, it's true, but winning these games is very important."
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