How Arsenal surprised Barcelona's Xavi in pre-season friendly win
- Xavi unhappy with the intensity shown by Arsenal for a pre-season friendly
- The Gunners ran out 5-3 winners at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles
- Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Barcelona but lack of pre-season minutes soon a factor for La Liga champions
Barcelona manager Xavi admitted he was surprised by the "intensity" shown by Arsenal during their pre-season clash in Los Angeles, California.
The Gunners ran out 5-3 winners in a thoroughly entertaining friendly thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Fabio Vieira and a brace from Leandro Trossard. But it was a friendly which threatened to boil over a time due to a whopping 34 fouls being committed - 22 of which were by Arsenal players.
Speaking to the press after the game, Xavi, who led Barca to last season's La Liga title, was keen to stress his unhappiness at how Mikel Arteta's Arsenal had approached the game.
"I said to Mikel at the end of the game, it was like a Champions League tie with the intensity they put in. It was not normal for a friendly, but I understand everyone wants to win. For us, it was our first friendly and we went into it off the back of loads of players having had a bug."
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When asked if the intensity of the game surprised Xavi, he replied: "Not ours, but Arsenal's, yes. It is not normal to play with so much intensity, making tactical fouls.
"Everyone wants to compete, but it is a friendly. They were playing with another level of intensity. We took it seriously but the main reason [for losing] was the difference in rhythm and match sharpness."
In assessing his team's performance, Xavi also admitted that his defence were not up to scratch on the night, telling reporters: "It was a good game for the fans but not so much for the coaches. It was up and down. You could tell Arsenal are much further down the line than us [in preseason]. That said, we were far too soft in defence."
Barca don't have to wait long for their next pre-season outing - a mouthwatering El Clasico against rivals Real Madrid on Saturday.
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