Barcelona manager, Xavi has come out to say that he was surprised by Arsenal’s intensity in their pre-season friendly. He recently revealed this after Barcelona suffered a 5-3 defeat in the United States, and fans have been reacting.
According to him, while his boys were playing tender early morning football, Arsenal definitely took it like a crucial UCL game throughout 90 minutes.

Xavi added that he was still pleased with the performance since it was his players’ first preseason match.
His words, “It has been a very good game for the show, not so much for the coaches. It has been back and forth. It has been noticed that they were much more shot than us. We have been tender in defence,”
“I told him at the end of the game that it looked like a Champions League game because the intensity they put in was not normal for a friendly, but I understand that everyone wants to win. For us, it was the first game and we came from a virus.”
On injuries, “We could not count on Gavi and [Clement] Lenglet, with discomfort. People who have played with positions that are not their natural ones. We have seen positive things and others not so much. They were much more driven than us.”
“Ours hasn’t surprised me, theirs has. So much intensity or so many tactical faults is not normal. We all want to compete, but this is a friendly. They are at a different pace of intensity. Positive things have been seen and I’m generally happy apart from the result, the conclusions are positive.”
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