Barcelona’s defence, led by Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo, has allowed just eight goals in 25 La Liga games this season and only one at Camp Nou in 12 outings. Araujo was injured and missed the 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in the Clásico at Stadium Santiago Bernabéu in October, a game in which Vinicius Junior tortured Sergi Roberto, who was playing right-back for Barça.
Since then, the Uruguayan has been assigned the task of containing the Brazilian when playing against Los Blancos. This is a task he has performed admirably in both of Los Blancos’ victories this year (3-1 in the Spanish Super Cup in January and 1-0 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals at the beginning of this month). The odds are stacked against Araujo on Sunday. But in an interview with ESPN, he was effusive in his appreciation of his Clásico opponent.
Ronald Araujo talks about Vinicius Junior
Ronald Araujo said: “At the moment, I think Vinícius is the number one attacking player in the world when it comes to one-on-one situations. He’s a very good player, he’s a difference-maker. Playing against him is difficult, obviously. But I work hard to be able to do my best in matches like this. I’m glad things are going well”.
Before Sunday’s Clasico match against Real Madrid at Camp Nou, Carles Puyol had nothing but glowing words for Ronald Araujo. Araujo is having an outstanding season for the Catalans. On Sunday night, he will likely continue to battle Vinicius Junior. The Uruguayan has impressed him thus far this season.
Twitter Reacts:
Real recognise real https://t.co/siS2KroqWO
— conundrum (@Seann4Ktt) March 19, 2023
playing mind games with vini before the games, you cant fool us. https://t.co/cQM6ucNtFs pic.twitter.com/4WmE8zOOjr
— anak bu dokter (@heithayo) March 19, 2023
https://twitter.com/Teebowvski/status/1637422584949010433?s=20
Mind games https://t.co/ocdDh4RHdp
— 𝙆𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙚 (@KOBBY_SKRRR) March 19, 2023
Araujo just wants to shadow hype himself. https://t.co/i3RDt33VW8
— princewill (@P_rincewill) March 19, 2023
But he will still pocket him. Lol https://t.co/XCPPi7fw3v
— SIDA ACUTA🌱 (@Temitayor09) March 19, 2023
Araujo just showing respects to his son Pini jr https://t.co/eZSzSQHI6N
— Diego🇧🇷🇪🇸 (@st4l_diego15) March 19, 2023
this is up there with Pep's "we cannot replace him" https://t.co/8C6hjFeC2d
— J̶u̶S̶t̶ ̶J̶o̶E̶ (@DrunkatNou) March 19, 2023
Crazy how I use to think he was gonna flop for signing so young. Now he is a force. https://t.co/jxF5zqldri
— omar (@omarlopezx) March 19, 2023