Barcelona had been eradicated from the Champions League semi-final in dramatic style in opposition to Inter, with the Italians scoring in stoppage time after which additional time to win out 7-6 on combination. Amongst loads of lamenting on Barcelona’s half, the fingers of blame additionally started swinging shortly after the ultimate whistle.
By way of people, central defender Ronald Araujo was the participant that was known as out most within the aftermath. The Uruguayan defender got here on with simply 12 minutes to go, however was discovered missing in each of Inter’s objectives whereas he was on the pitch. Throughout Francesco Acerbi’s equaliser, Araujo couldn’t get in the best way of the 37-year-old central defender, whereas Marcus Thuram turned away from simply on the sting of the field to arrange the winner.
Concern over Ronald Araujo performances
As per Sport, there may be concern over his performances this season. Whereas he has by no means been sensible on the ball, Araujo has all the time stood out for his defensive prowess – till this season. In two Clasicos, Araujo did properly in opposition to Los Blancos, in each instances off the bench, however outdoors of that, he has been a constant supply of errors when performed.
Eric García feels essential, a situation he set so as to be keen to resume his contract. @gbsans
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) Could 7, 2025
The Catalan paper be aware that the dressing room didn’t take lengthy to recall Araujo’s sending off final yr within the Champions League in opposition to Paris Saint-Germain, and precipitated Ilkay Gundogan to publicly criticise him. That was resolved, however the feeling on the membership is that his stage of efficiency has declined considerably this yr, one thing backed up by Diario AS, who say that the opposite central defenders go well with the model of play higher.
Bayern Munich and Juventus curiosity
Araujo was poised to go away in January, requesting a transfer to Juventus, who bid €35m. That was deemed inadequate by Barcelona, who handed him a contract renewal till 2031, however with the promise they might talk about his future in the summertime. He now has a €65m launch clause within the first 15 days of the switch market, and Sport say each Juventus and Bayern Munich stay . He has additionally been linked to Manchester United once more extra not too long ago.
In the meantime AS be aware that some on the membership regard Araujo’s renewal as ‘synthetic’, and he stays a participant Barcelona will think about promoting. Flick remains to be counting on him, realizing that he has no different defender of his qualities, however the membership are much less sure on easy methods to strategy his future.