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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta refuses to apologise to Barcelona rival Xavi after complaints
Mikel Arteta and Xavi have gone back and forth after Arsenal's pre-season win over Barcelona.
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has hit back at Barcelona legend Xavi and refused to apologise in the wake of the Gunners’ pre-season victory over the La Liga giants in America. A 5-3 win in the early hours of Thursday morning saw Xavi complain about the intensity that the Premier League side played with as they continued to step up preparations for the coming campaign.
Arsenal are further along in their pre-season than their Spanish counterparts, but Xavi insisted that it “was not normal” for a friendly to be played in such a fashion. Leandro Trossard got a brace for the Gunners alongside goals from Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Fabio Vieira while Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ferran Torres were on the scoresheet for Barcelona in their eight-goal thriller, but Xavi was not impressed.
"It has been a very good game for the show, not so much for the coaches,” he said. “It has been back and forth. It has been noticed that they were much more shot than us. We have been tender in defence.
"We have stopped counting 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.
"I told him [Arteta] 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... For the fans, the Premier is spectacular.”
However, Arteta refused to apologise for the intensity although admitting his players did “rebel” against him due to the crowd. “At the end of the day, soccer belongs to the players,” Arteta responded.
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“We’re playing in front of 70,000 people and as soon as the game starts they’ll rebel against the coaches as soon as the game starts and they’ll do what they want. As soon as there’s the first foul of the game they’ll start getting intense and they’ll start playing.”
Despite going against Arteta’s wishes by playing to such a high intensity, the head coach will be pleased that they are getting ready for the Premier League season that gets underway in just over two weeks.
Arsenal have just the Emirates Cup before taking on foes Manchester City in the Community Shield on August 6 and then getting their league campaign started at home to Nottingham Forest. A fast start was crucial to last season’s success in north London and Arteta appears to be planning for another one 12 months later.