Ronald Araujo will take risks against Girona: he will play with a broken jaw | Soccer | Sports

Ronald Araujo finished the match against Atlético de Madrid in Montjuïc with severe pain in his jaw. During the duel, the Barcelona centre-back had fallen to the ground in a race with Marcos Llorente and had hit his face with the studs of the red-and-white player’s boot. The Uruguayan, however, downplayed the blow and tried to live a normal life. He went to sleep and the next morning he prepared some mates [infusión típica de algunos países de Sudamérica]. But the discomfort was too intense. That’s when she decided to go to the medical services. After the studies it was found that Araujo had fractured his jaw in the collision with Llorente. “How could you play 70 minutes with a broken face?” They asked him around him. “It was hot, we had to win,” he replied. What surprised the people who work with the center-back the most was not that he continued on the field against Atlético, nor that he found out about the injury a day later, but that Araujo will put on a mask and take the field against Girona the next Sunday.

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“Against Girona is a key match for us. I have to play”. It was the first thing Araujo said to Barça’s medical services. A decision that favors Xavi, after Iñigo Martínez suffered a femoral biceps injury. The idea of ​​the doctors of the Barça entity was to operate on Araujo. However, at the insistence of the Uruguayan, they chose to do a less invasive treatment. “For him all games are finals. One day he is seriously going to break,” those who know him complain. It is not the first time that Araujo takes risks. And every time he can he repeats it: “The most important thing for a defender is to defend.” This season he leads, once again, the table of recoveries: 34. Furthermore, he wins in 62% of the duels: he has won 40 and lost 25. Due to his physical and mental strength, Barcelona are encouraged to compare him with a legend. “Remember Puyol, he plays injured. “He demands himself to the maximum,” the coaching staff states.

Since arriving at Barcelona in the summer of 2018, Araujo has been to the infirmary 12 times. “He understands the game like that. If we ask him not to take risks, we would be asking him not to play as he feels,” they explain at the Barcelona Sports City. And they joke: “You have to respect it and pray that it doesn’t break.” The Uruguayan assures that these games before the Christmas break are fundamental for Barcelona. In fact, Xavi’s chair was shaky after Barcelona’s defeat in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk, without the victory against Alavés (2-1) and the draw against Rayo (1-1) giving the coach any breath. However, the victories against Porto (2-1) and Atlético (1-1) relieved Xavi and Barcelona. But Araujo doesn’t want to relax. And he will seek to force himself to be against Girona, leader of the League along with Real Madrid.

“It is a very important victory,” Araujo highlighted after Barça’s victory against Atlético; “We have a lot of confidence in the work we are doing with the coach, we were not getting the results and we knew that today we had to take a step forward.” Araujo, one of Barcelona’s captains, is a wild card for Xavi: the coach usually uses him as a winger. This season, in any case, the center-back made his preferences clear to the coach. “I don’t like playing as a winger,” he commented. What Xavi is clear about is that, as a full-back or as a centre-back, he will always be able to count on Araujo.

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2023-12-06 17:07:53
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