Soccer Blog Video

Barcelona overcame a stubborn Almeria side 1-0 at the Camp Nou following a wonder strike from Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma.

In Barcelona, the home side dominated proceedings from the off and the only surprise was it took until the 31st minute to turn that dominance into a lead.

But the strike that set the champions on the road to victory was well worth the wait. Having collected a Maxwell pass, Pedro - in for the injured and out of form Thierry Henry - rolled his man before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net.

Firmly on top, it seemed only a matter of time before Barca added to their lead, but a combination of dogged defending, profligacy and the assistant referee's flag conspired to keep the score at 1-0 going into the half-time interval.

The second half was a less one-sided affair - although Barca still dominated. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had the best effort of the half.

But Almeria could have stolen a draw at the death, only Pablo Platti was inches away from Guilherme's centre.
Eurosport