FC Barcelona defeated Valencia on Monday evening (4-2), on the lawn of the Lluís Companys stadium in Montjuïc, during the 33rd day of La Liga. This meeting was once again marked by an error by Ronald Araújo and scandals linked to arbitration. The weeks therefore seem to follow one another and resemble each other in the daily life of the Catalan club and the Uruguayan defender. Until now considered untransferable and considered a real executive, Araújo is now only a shadow of himself. This winter, Barça even rejected the advances of Bayern Munich, whose offer was valued at nearly 80 million euros. An offer logically refused as the 25-year-old was an important member of the team and leader of the defense.
“It’s a positive analysis because we won. We were good, but specific mistakes made us fall behind against a Valencia who became more aggressive and more uncomfortable. The goals came from set pieces. Two corners, one foul. These are things we also worked on, although I would have liked to create more chances by playing with one more in the second half., preferred to explain the Spanish coach, Xavi, who recently announced that he would remain at the head of the Blaugrana next season. This time, no protagonist pointed out individual mistakes. But the observation remains the same: Ronald Araújo can no longer do it…
Unrecognizable against Valencia
The controversy took center stage during the Barcelona – Valencia match. As against PSG in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Uruguayan central defender Ronald Araújo was the protagonist of the first controversial action at Montjuïc on Monday evening. A terrific header from Fermín López from Raphinha’s pass had given Barça the lead in the 22nd minute, but it took just ten minutes for that advantage to be squandered. A poor outing from Marc-André ter Stegen made an error of judgment against Hugo Duro beyond his area, which allowed the Valencia striker to equalize. In the 36th minute, Ronald Araújo, who had returned at full speed, attempted a sliding tackle on Peter who collapsed in the area. The referee of the match, Sir, Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea pointed directly to the penalty spot without hesitation which Pepelu transformed without trembling: “He manages to touch the ball, but the way he went in is already reckless. Araújo can’t say it’s not a penalty. Even if he competes alone for the ball, it is yellow and not red.analyzed Eduardo Iturralde González, former referee and arbitration analyst for the newspaper A.S. and the Cadena SER.
In its columns, the newspaper MARCA writes that “the Uruguayan central defender is going through difficult weeks. He already made a serious mistake against PSG and today he misjudged his tackle again. Araujo committed a penalty on Peter, who caused a lot of damage throughout the match.. Despite this new error, Xavi did not want to tackle his player who has already been in the eye of the storm for several weeks: “Araujo and a few other players are still very young. They are learning. He must control certain details. He made mistakes but he has already saved us many times”. The consequences of elimination in the Champions League sometimes have particularly serious consequences. Ronald Araujo is learning this the hard way. Designated as the main culprit in the disillusionment against PSG (1-4) for having left his partners ten against eleven from the half-hour mark, and even publicly vilified by Ilkay Gündogan, the Uruguayan experienced an impressive downgrade in the eyes of the FC Barcelona and its management.
