The Gunners lined up without record signing Nicolas Pepe, who was left out of the squad completely while new Barca signing Junior Firpo was named on the bench.

 

The game had a proper season feel to it, as both sides were happy to feel each other out, with Ivan Rakitic's 13th minute strike the only threatening effort inside the opening 20 minutes.

 

Bernd Leno was the first goalkeeper called in to action midway through the first half as he got down well to keep out Ousmane Dembele's effort from distance.

 

With five minutes to the halftime break, the Gunners broke the deadlock against the run of play as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did well to beat Jordi Alba before rifling the ball past Neto.

 

With the Catalan giants struggling to break down the Gunners defence, coach Ernesto Valverde threw on Suarez, Moussa Wague and Miranda on the hour mark.

 

The equaliser arrived soon after and quite fortunately as Ainsley Maitlan-Niles' attempted back-pass sailed into the back of the net after a mix-up with Leno.

 

Barca were in the ascendancy and eventually went on to bag the winning goal on 90 minutes, with Suarez collecting a long ball over his should before firing home from close range to seal the win.