Red-hot Trossard at the double as Gunners down Barcelona

Leandro Trossard was the star of the show last night as Arsenal beat Barcelona 5-3 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. 

Trossard's second-half double helped Mikel Arteta's Premier League runners-up secure a comeback victory over the Spanish champions. 

And the Belgian's display left his manager purring. Arteta said: "It's great to see him score — he's been working so hard. 

"He came in a really good condition for pre-season. He's a player that gives us something very different to the wingers we have and he's got incredible versatility and unpredictability to play in the positions. 

"It's great and will be good for his confidence, that's for sure."

Trossard, who scored in the 55th and 78th minutes as Arsenal brought the curtain down on their US tour, added: "It's been an amazing 10 days.

"We wanted to end on a positive note. We're happy with that and now we can go back to London."

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Barca after seven minutes but Bukayo Saka levelled matters just six minutes later. 

Raphinha restored the lead in the 34th minute before Kai Havertz kept his good pre-season form going with an equaliser as half-time approached. 

Trossard struck twice after the restart and Fabio Vieira added a fifth moments after Ferran Torres pulled one back in the 88th minute. 

Reflecting on the result, Arteta told Arsenal.com: "It got really competitive for a friendly match — after the first tackle, after the first goal. 

"Obviously, in front of 70,000 fans it helps to create an atmosphere. They are elite players and all want to win. 

"At the end it got a bit too much at times for a friendly, to be fair. But I think we showed all the people that came to watch the game that it was really good."

Arteta also moved quickly to address the absence of striker Folarin Balogun. He said: "He wasn’t available. 

"He had a little foot injury and hasn't been training with us."

On Balogun's future, he added: "We will have to see. First of all, he has to be fit and available to play minutes."