🚨 Arsenal beat Barcelona in eight-goal friendly | OneFootball

There were eight goals at the SoFi Stadium as Arsenal came from behind to beat Barcelona.

Scorers: Saka 13′, Havertz 43′, Trossard 55′, 78′, Vieira 90′; Lewandowski 7′, Raphinha 34′, Torres 88′

It was an intense start to things in Los Angeles, with tackles flying in from the off, and Barcelona took an early lead thanks to some fine work from Abde Ezzalzouli. The 21-year-old’s turn of pace saw him pass William Saliba and he squared the ball for Raphinha, whose effort was saved before Robert Lewandowski converted the rebound.

Arsenal were the more threatening side throughout the first half, though, and took just six minutes to equalise. Bukayo Saka pounced on a loose touch by Andreas Christensen in the box and fired past Marc-André ter Stegen with his right foot.

Saka had the chance to score again from the penalty spot after a handball but dragged his effort wide. The Englishman almost had another huge opportunity only for Gabriel Jesus’ pass across goal to evade him and it was Barcelona who made it 2-1, thanks to a deflected Raphinha free-kick that left Aaron Ramsdale wrong-footed.

Arsenal equalised again moments before the break, with Saka superbly driving forward and beating Marcos Alonso before crossing to find Martin Ødegaard, whose header was steered in by summer arrival Kai Havertz.

The second half started at a frenetic pass after Barcelona changed their entire side at the interval. Saka went close to making it 3-2 at one end and Ousmane Dembélé did the same at the other before Leandro Trossard did scored, driving a low left-footed effort into the far corner.

The customary raft of pre-season substitutions continued before Trossard scored a second, diverting home a ball flashed across the box by Kieran Tierney to make it 4-2.

Alejandro Baldé hit the bar as Barcelona looked to respond at the other end and they did find the net again, Ferran Torres converting as Barça capitalised on a Rob Holding mistake. There would be no comeback, though, with Arsenal quickly restoring their two-goal advantage and ending the game with a superb Fabio Vieira strike from just outside the box.

Next up for the Gunners is a game against Monaco at the Emirates Stadium in a week’s time, while Barça are next in action against Real Madrid on Saturday.