Xavi was surprιsed by Arsenal’s intensity in the pre-season friendly as Barcelona suffered a 5-3 defeat in the US.

The Gunners secured an easy win over the Spanish champions thanks to a Leandro Trossard brace and goals from Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Fabio Vieira in their fourth and final game of the tour. pre-season game in the US. Xavi noted that Arsenal’s level of performance is comparable to a Champions League game, while Barcelona are still catching up on fitness, playing only the first game of the tour after their opening game against Juventus was canceled because sick. He complained about the “intensity” and said it was “unusual for a friendly” pre-season.

‘It was a very good match for the show, which didn’t affect the coaches much. The match went back and forth. People noticed that they were shot more than we were. We were very gentle on defense,” he said after the loss.

“I told him at the end that it was like a Champions League game because the intensity they put in was unusual for a friendly, but I understand that everyone wants to win. For us, it was the first game and we came from a vιrus,” he added.

Xavi also claims that his side are struggling with a couple of injuries that have sidelined Gavi and Clement Lenglet. However, he found some positιve aspects in Barcelona’s performance when taking into account the players’ fitness and their ability to recover from illness.

“We can’t count on Gavi and [Clement] Lenglet, with annoyance. People who have played in positions that aren’t their forte. We’ve seen positιves and others not so much. They were more motivated than we were.

“Our game didn’t surprιse me, they did. Too much intensity or too many tactical errors is not normal. We all want to compete, but this is a friendly. They are playing. positιve things have been seen and overall i am satisfied apart from the results, the conclusions are posιtive,” he said.

Barcelona will continue their pre-season preparations, with two more games set to take place in the United States against Real Madrid and AC Milan. Meanwhile, Arsenal will return to England to focus on pre-season and prepare for the upcoming 2023-24 Premier League season, which begins with a match against Nottingham Forest on August 12. Before that, however, they will meet AS Monaco and Manchester City in the Emirates Cup and FA Community Shield on August 2 and August 6 respectively.