Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has complained of the intensity shown by his opponents during their preseason friendly defeat to Arsenal.
The Blaugrana were put to the sword in a 5-3 loss to the Gunners in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, suffering a lack of intensity themselves. He felt that Arsenal crossed the line though.
“I told Mikel [Arteta] at the end of the game that it was a Champions League game. The intensity they put in was not normal for a friendly. For us it was only the first game, also after having a virus. It was really difficult for us,” Xavi explained to Relevo.
“Our intensity didn’t surprise me. Theirs did. So many tactical fouls… It’s not normal. Everyone wants to compete, but it’s a friendly. They are at another level of intensity, physicality. I’m generally happy, we’ve seen positive things, our conclusions are positive.”
He softened his stance later, saying that he was pleased with Barcelona’s performance all the same.
“Arsenal deserved the victory. The main reason is the difference in pace and intensity. We’ve been good. Happy, apart from the result. The playing out from the back has been good, we’ve dominated the midfield at many points… On a defensive level we’ve been soft. The virus is no excuse.”
Overall, Xavi finished with kind words for Arteta, despite his earlier frustration.
“We have a similar career. Arteta changed clubs, he loves Arsenal. He’s very competitive, I respect him a lot. I wish him the best. I don’t know him too well because we haven’t met, but our coaching career has been similar, yes. Our style is very similar.”
Few will feel sympathy for Xavi in this case, and there is no doubt that Arsenal are likely to be much closer to full fitness, being Barcelona’s first friendly of the preseason.
There is an argument that if anything, Barcelona are more likely to get up to speed faster if they are subjected to more difficult preseason challenges too, but clearly Xavi did not feel that way.
“The intensity they put in was not normal for a friendly”
This guys excuse repertoire is unreal. Ahahahah. What did he expect, them to roll over and allow 8 goals to his Majesty and his divine soldiers?
Almost as entertaining as “The opponent fans cheered too loudly at camp Franco Nou”.
As a barca fan please do us all a favour xavi and just keep quiet if you’re going to continue spurting out complete and utter nonsense tbh,its not enough how much you embarrassed everyone connected to fc barcelona last year by blaming the sunny weather in spain lol for the terrible performance against getafe hence the gardener nickname and now this latest crap,the facts are arsenal have already played 4/5 pre season games already this season this is barcas 1st pre season match so arsenal are obviously going to be more fitter,sharper more intense than us they beat us last night fair and square,we hit the post twice through dembele and balde they didn’t they put their ball in the net simple.
I have to agree with you. No doubt the squad would have played with more intensity has this not been their first preseason match. Probably some players weren’t yet 100 per cent, but that’s not Arsenal’s fault. Not worried about the squad selection; it’s preseason and the goal is to evaluate and gain fitness and cohesion. Some players are who we thought they were, for better or for worse.
What Xavi should have said is that it was good to get on the pitch again, that Arsenal showed good intensity and have benefitted from their preseason so far, and that his club expects to get better as theirs goes on, and left it at that regardless of how he feels personally. No reason to start a dialog in the press.
If i were you i would concentrate on getting your team selections right instead of making a fool of yourself,starting marcos alonso last night at lwb against bukayo saka ? brought back horrific memories of your team selection last season against man utd in the 1st leg of the europa league match,you won over alot of barca fans last year with the league win which is fair enough i for one though still have massive doubts about you as a manager please prove me wrong and make me eat my words.