Xavi Hernandez admitted that he was surprised by Arsenal’s ‘intensity’ during their pre-season clash with the Gunners.
Barcelona faced the Premier League runners-up in a friendly clash at the SoFi Stadium in California, a clash that they lost 5-3 in front of 70,000 fans.
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Despite goals from Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ferran Torres, Barca ultimately came unstuck thanks to efforts from Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Fabio Vieira and Leandro Trossard brace.
Seeing a game of such quality won’t have been a surprise to the fans in attendance given the caliber of the two sides, however Barcelona boss Xavi did admit to being taken aback by the way Arsenal approached the game.
There was 34 fouls and four yellow cards dished out in the exhibition match.
Speaking at the end of the game, Xavi said: “I said to Mikel at the end of the game that it felt like a Champions League game because the intensity that they put was not normal for a friendly game.
“I understand perfectly that everybody wants to win but for us it was just the first game, the beginning after many Barca played passed a virus so it was very difficult for us.”
He added: “Our intensity didn’t surprise me, their intensity did.
“It’s not normal for a friendly game to be so intense or to have so many injuries or yellow cards and all that.
“They were at a very high level of intensity and rhythm that we weren’t expecting. The second have of the game meant we had a lot of things that worked well.
“In total we think the result was a positive one with a lot of positive conclusions to the game.”
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Asked if the virus impacted the result, Xavi said: “No, Arsenal deserved the victory. The principle theme was the physical intensity.
“When we suffered was the defensive level because we were weak on certain spots there but overall we are very happy with the result of the game apart from the score.”
Arteta responded to claims about the atmosphere, saying: “It got really competitive for a friendly match. It got that way after the first tackle, the first goal.
“Playing in front of 70000 people helps create an atmosphere. They are elite players and they all want to win.
“But at the end, I think it got a bit too much for a friendly, but I think the show that we put in for all the people that came to watch was really good.”
