Pedro's first-half strike gave Barcelona a win over Almeria as the Catalans made hard work of a seemingly routine home match.

The Tenerife-born youngster struck after half an hour to score only his second ever goal for the first team, and it proved enough to give a below-par Barca outfit their sixth successive league win and put pressure on bitter rivals Real Madrid, who face a tough trip to Sevilla tomorrow.

Almeria coach and Real Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez had no doubt been hoping to do his old club a favour by halting Barca.

And Sanchez, who has always maintained he would never coach the Catalans out of respect for the club where he starred in the late 1980s, claimed he would draw inspiration from Barca's other rivals, Espanyol, who scored a surprise 2-1 win at the Nou Camp last season.

But Barca had a man sent off at a crucial moment in that match and as other teams, including Madrid, have found out in the last year, getting anything from the Nou Camp is easier said than done.

That is especially the case when Lionel Messi is on his game and the Argentina winger came close to giving Barca the lead after 10 minutes, when he turned and flashed a shot just wide from eight yards out.

Messi then saw a tame effort saved by Diego Alves as Barca continued to dominate, but Almeria almost took a shock lead two minutes later when Albert Crusat charged down the right flank and sent a dangerous ball across the face of goal, only for Sergio Busquets to clear.

The Andalusians were showing they were not just here to make up the numbers, but they had their goalkeeper to thank for remaining on level terms a minute later, when Alves touched Xavi's shot onto the post after great work from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But Alves could do nothing to prevent Pedro from giving Barca the lead after half an hour.

The youngster received the ball with his back to goal, but turned and flashed a thunderous effort into the top corner to give Alves no chance and hand Barca the breakthrough they had been searching for.

Pedro's first Barca goal handed the Catalans victory in the European Supercup in August following a goalless 90 minutes against Shakhtar Donetsk.

And this goal could prove to be just as important.

In truth, it should have been easy after that, but Barca continued to struggle against an organised Almeria outfit, and the visitors produced a moment of tension in the Nou Camp five minutes after the break when Maxwell's last-ditch tackle denied them what looked a certain equaliser.

Xavi, Messi and Rafa Marquez all tried their luck after that for the locals, but the second goal remained elusive.

Ibrahimovic almost scored it with 15 minutes left, but the striker's low shot was pushed past the post by Alves.

The Sweden striker had scored in all five of Barca's previous league matches, but endured a largely frustrating evening in this match.

And Barca were hanging on somewhat at the end, although they did just enough to secure the points.

The Catalans move top provisionally ahead of Madrid's match and will be glad to have won all three points on one of their more forgettable nights.

Almeria, meanwhile, are down in 12th and will be disappointed at having nothing to show for a brave performance.

The Andalusians could drop further tomorrow, depending on other results.