Since debuting as a starter with the first team in 2020, Ronald Araujo It became a fixed in the defense of Barcelona. The praise happened and in the club they congratulated themselves for having finally found a central one to forget … to the long -awaited Carles Puyol, with great performances before the real Madrid especially in the Santiago Bernabéu. So much so that before concluding the 2021-22 season he was renewed until 2026 and even entered the Captaincy after the departure of Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. To his forcefulness On the field his self -critical spirit Out of the playing land but its star seems to have been paying this year. To begin with, the start of the season was lost due to an injury suffered in the Copa América and did not play its first course of the course until January, the month in which it renewed until June 2031. Its blackout culminated Tuesday against Dortmund. Fallone from the beginning, lost a ball three minutes to the Guirassy pressure that was about to cost a goal and He came out in the photo of the third German goal When clearing defectively and leaving the ball at the feet of the Franco-Guinean striker.
Accustomed to being indisputable, Araujo has not just been comfortable with his situation or with Hansi Flick’s style. The German coach has opted in his first season for a defensive style based on the offside, with which the Uruguayan suffers in excess, in addition to demonstrating difficulties in the ball out, his weak point but that is unquestionable in the DNA Barça. In addition, the exceptional state of form of Iñigo Martínezundisputed for the German coach next to Cubarsí. Much more effective both filtering passes and attending in depth. As if that were not enough, the central is showing weak points where it showed before, within the area.
Flick is trying to make Araujo reunite his best state, but the Uruguay delayed its defensive linesituation in which it is much more comfortable than playing in advance away from the goal defended by Szczesny. It was evident in the first leg before the Dortmundin the return of Cup semifinals in the Metropolitan against Atlético or in the first leg of the Champions League eighth before Benfica, when Cubarsí was expelled.
Nor did he help him the controversy generated with his last renewal. Precisely, the player already had Doubts about your continuityalso fed by the receptivity of Barcelona to receive offers, including Juventus, which put 35 million on the table. With the Uruguayan valuing his departure, Deco accelerated the negotiations to rule out a march during the winter market but gave way to leave a door open to facilitate its transfer in June. The Exhaust route It consisted of maintaining the termination clause of 1,000 million euros but lowering it to 70 million during the first ten days of July. Although the player has stated that “there is Araujo for a while,” we will have to see what happens when the season ends.
Araujo, meanwhile, tries to recover his best moment and this Tuesday he became captain again when he appeared before televisions with rights after the defeat in Dortmund. «We are happy, we are in a semifinal after a long time and this club deserved it. We have been without semifinals almost six years And I am happy for that, because this club deserves it, it is working well in recent times. Obviously, there are things that we have to correct, but happy because At another time this game escaped us And we could endure well and we went to the semifinal, ”he said. «The Champions is like that, we saw many times how this competition is. It is very difficult and that is why we were not in the semifinals for a long time. This team deserves it and the club too, ”he added before assessing the effect of the 4-0 of the first leg when preparing the return:” We change some players, there are many games, many minutes. He gave us margin to rotate ».
