Barcelona star Ronald Araujo continues rough form with Uruguay mistake

Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo has had a tough season by his own admission, and by that of manager Hansi Flick, in which he missed the first half of the year through injury. Coming back into the Blaugrana side, he found himself firmly behind Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi in the pecking order.

Unfortunately for him, despite strong contributions against Real Madrid, Araujo’s season will be remembered for two mistakes against Inter in the Champions League semi-final, with first Marcus Thuram and then Francesco Acerbi beating him for their final two goals, which equalised and won the tie for the Italians. Joining up with Uruguay for international duty, things have not gotten easier for Araujo.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay are on a tough run of form, with just one win in their last ten games, and just five goals in that time. A goal down to Paraguay with just over 10 minutes to go, Araujo’s poor control allowed Julio Enciso to pounce, and Araujo gave away penalty.

Enciso stepped up to score the penalty, and sentence Uruguay to a 2-0 loss.

After the game, Araujo took responsibility for his mistake. Sport carried the words of the Barcelona vice-captain.

“It’s bitter, we wanted the win. It’s obvious we didn’t play well, we didn’t have a good match, and we lost.”

“Maybe I should have played it first time. I tried to play out the ball, and they were very high up the pitch. That’s football, and we’ll have to think about Tuesday,” he noted on the penalty incident.

“We’re not creating as much as we can because of the quality of the players we have, and we conceded at the back, and it’s tough because we’re known for defending well.”

At one stage it looked like Araujo might be on his way out of Barcelona this summer, but it seems that both club and player have U-turned on his situation. Manager Hansi Flick has backed Araujo to bounce back next season with more continuity, and Araujo himself has assured he will be a Barcelona player.