Ronald Araujo, in a match with Uruguay. /
FC Barcelona
The Barça centre-back follows the advice of the doctors, reluctant to conservative treatment, but he is not yet ruled out for the World Cup in Qatar
Bad news for Ronald Araujo, who has made the decision to undergo surgery to overcome the injury to the adductor longus tendon in his right thigh that he suffered last Friday in a friendly match with the Uruguayan team against Iran, which they also lost the South Americans (1-0).
The Uruguayan will obviously not reach the classic on October 16 at the Santiago Bernabéu, corresponding to the ninth day of the League, but his great challenge now is to be able to be in the World Cup in Qatar that begins on November 20 in Doha. It is complicated that he can be with the light blue in this contest, but today it is not ruled out.
The Barça central defender, at this start of the season also adapted with remarkable performance to the right-back in the absence of Jules Koundé, now also out due to the ‘FIFA virus’, has heeded the advice of the Barça doctors, convinced that the operation guarantees a full recovery from the ailment. The intention is that he be intervened this week in Finland.
Araujo, who immediately returned to Barcelona after being injured and underwent tests on Saturday in Barcelona, met early this Monday with those responsible for the Barça club’s medical services and with coach Xavi Hernández.
Together they analyzed the two options on the table: surgery or opt for a more conservative treatment. The first possibility, which is the one the footballer himself always contemplated, involves spending around a month and a half away from the playing fields and carries less risk of relapse. With the second, on the other hand, the recovery time is not clear, but surgery is avoided. From Barça they finished convincing him to decide for the operating room, especially after verifying that when Umtiti and Ansu Fati ruled out the intervention, the results were not the desired ones.
Araujo, 23, is a fundamental man in the Barcelona scheme, a club that recently renewed him until 2026, with an anti-sheikh clause of 1,000 million. This course has acted in seven of the eight meetings, between LaLiga and the Champions, played by Barça. In the match against the Iranians in Austria, he barely lasted a minute on the pitch at the NV Arena.
