Arsenal 5-3 Barcelona: Gunners triumph in eight-goal epic despite Declan Rice absence
rsenal rounded off their pre-season tour of the United States with a thrilling and rare 5-3 victory over Barcelona achieved without Declan Rice.
The Gunners’ £105million club-record signing was a surprise omission from Mikel Arteta’s squad to face the reigning LaLiga champions in their high-profile final US friendly in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, with no reason initially given for his absence.
But Arsenal were able to outlast Barcelona without headline summer arrival Rice, with Leandro Trossard’s fine second-half brace and a late Fabio Vieira rocket ultimately settling a feisty and chaotic goal-laden affair at SoFi Stadium, where kick-off was delayed by 36 minutes with no explanation offered.
It took Barcelona just seven minutes to take the lead after a scrappy start to proceedings, with Robert Lewandowski turning home from close range after Aaron Ramsdale had initially denied Raphinha following a lung-busting run down the left flank from the dangerous Abde Ezzalzouli.
But Arsenal were back on level terms only six minutes later when a blunder from ex-Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen opened the door for Bukayo Saka, who finished neatly beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen before then firing a horrible penalty well wide after a cutback from the byline to Trossard had skipped up and hit the hand of Ronald Araujo.
Barcelona went in front again when Raphinha’s free-kick deflected off captain Martin Odegaard in the wall and completely wrong-footed a frustrated Ramsdale, though again Arsenal hit back before the interval when Saka’s cross was headed by Odegaard into the path of Kai Havertz, the £65m signing who made it two goals in as many games as he showed quick reflexes to help the ball in.
Arteta’s side went ahead for the first time on the night 10 minutes after half-time, when a long ball forward was deflected into the path of Trossard, who ran at Jules Kounde before rifling a fine effort beyond the grasp of Barca’s substitute goalkeeper Inaki Pena.
Barcelona changed their entire team at half-time of what was only their first match of the summer after a friendly with Juventus was cancelled due to an outbreak of illness in the squad. But their fresh replacements could not cope with Trossard, who doubled his tally by showing fast feet of his own to turn Kieran Tierney’s hard low cross into the bottom corner.
Either side of that goal the Catalans hit the woodwork twice, Ousmane Dembele finding the base of the post and Alejandro Balde rattling the crossbar.
Ferran Torres slid beyond Ramsdale after being played in by Dembele as he looked to set up a grandstand finish, with a terrific game finishing in typically electric fashion as just seconds later Vieira found the back of the net with a swerving long-range missile.
It was only Arsenal’s second victory over Barcelona in 10 attempts and the perfect antidote after the disappointment of losing to Manchester United in New Jersey on Saturday.
Now the Gunners return home for a midweek Emirates Cup clash with Monaco on Wednesday before facing Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley next weekend, ahead of their Premier League opener at home to Nottingham Forest.
Next up for Xavi and Barcelona, meanwhile, is a huge pre-season Clasico against fierce rivals Real Madrid in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, followed by meetings with AC Milan and then Tottenham in the Joan Gamper Trophy.
