Arsenal beats Barcelona in intense eight-goal thriller

Arsenal beat Barcelona 5-3 in a thrilling eight-goal friendly Wednesday night in California. Not only were there plenty of goals in front of the 70,000 fans inside SoFi Stadium, but the game was a feisty affair as well. In fact, there were over 30 total fouls called and four yellow cards handed out during the fixture.

Spanish club lets two first-half leads slip away

Barcelona quickly grabbed an early lead thanks to a goal from Robert Lewandowski in the seventh minute of the match. However, Arsenal quickly scored an equalizer thanks to a clever finish by Bukayo Saka. The Spanish side then regained the lead in the 34th minute after Raphinha’s free kick ricocheted off of Martin Ødegaard and escaped the clutches of a diving Aaron Ramsey.

However, Arsenal fought back yet again to level the score just moments before halftime. Kai Havertz latched on to a header inside the box by Ødegaard to make it 2-2 heading into the break.

Leandro Trossard would add the third and fourth goals for the Gunners inside a 13-minute span in the second half. Although substitute Ferran Torres would grab a late goal to make it 4-3, Fabio Vieira would put the game to bed with a stunning strike in the 89th minute.

Xavi compared Barcelona against Arsenal to Champions League

Although the matchup featured some impressive goals, much of the discussion afterward was about the intensity of the game. Xavi compared the atmosphere of the friendly to a Champions League fixture. “It was a good game for the fans but not so much for the coaches,” Xavi stated in his post-match press conference.

“There were positives and negatives though. I said to Mikel [Arteta] 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.”

The Gunners did certainly seem to step up a level of intensity throughout the friendly on Wednesday. The Premier League side was whistled for 22 fouls and given three yellow cards on the night. Nevertheless, Blaugrana defender Ronald Araújo committed multiple excessive tackles in the match. The aforementioned Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were both crunched by the Uruguayan center back.

Arsenal has now finished off its United States summer tour. They will next face French club Monaco at home for the Emirates Cup on August 2. Barcelona, on the other hand, has just begun its stay in the States. The Spanish giants are set to face familiar foe Real Madrid on July 29 before finishing its American tour against AC Milan three days later.

PHOTO: IMAGO & ZUMA Wire