Oriol Romeu has admitted Arsenal surprised him in pre-season, making things very difficult for their Barcelona side.

Speaking to Jijantes FC this week, Oriol Romeu reflected on a number of topics, including their pre-season game against Arsenal.

“In pre-season, Arsenal surprised me a lot,” Romeu admitted. “They made it very difficult for us.”

For those who didn’t catch the game (which took place at 4am UK time during the tour of the U.S.), Arsenal came out 5-3 victors in a surprisingly fiery encounter.

Romeu played the first half of the contest, in which Barcelona took the lead twice, but were twice pegged back for 2-2.

Barcelona were lucky not to be behind at the break, with Bukayo Saka missing a penalty and a couple of other good chances going begging. Raphinha’s goal also came via a heavy and unfortunate deflection.

On top of the goals, that first half involved 22 fouls and four yellow cards, so it wasn’t your ordinary pre-season match.

The Gunners took control in the second half, with Leandro Trossard bagging a couple of goals, before Ferran Torres pulled one back in the last couple of minutes.

But Fabio Vieira helped Arsenal put some gloss on the result with a lovely goal from distance to make it 5-3.

Although it was only pre-season, it was nice for Arsenal to show they can compete with Europe’s top clubs, ahead of the return to the Champions League.

Romeu was clearly impressed by what he saw, and it’s unlikely Barcelona will take Arsenal lightly if the two clubs meet later in the season.