why do we like Ronald Araujo so much and why does Vinícius get a kick out of it

BarcelonaReal Madrid has, with the permission of Karim Benzema, its best offensive argument in Vinícius Júnior. The 22-year-old striker put behind him last season the scandal of his poor marksmanship and signed 22 goals and 20 assists in 52 games. Figures that catapulted the whites to win the Champions League and the League. The Brazilian winger, established on the left wing after the departure of Gareth Bale and the ostracism of Eden Hazard, is one of the most decisive footballers of the Madrid team, but there is one defender who is his real nightmare: Ronald Araujo. This Sunday the faces will be seen in the first classic that Xavi Hernández will direct at Camp Nou. It will be the sixth official confrontation between the Barcelona defender and the attacker merengue.

Araujo likes to play in the center, although against Madrid he has a neck down that he will play right back again to nullify Vinícius. But Rivera’s was formed as a footballer especially in offensive positions. It was at the age of 17 when his physical conditions – he is almost 1.90 m and weighs 80 kg – brought him closer to the central position. It would be with Rentistas de Montevideo when he debuted in this position. This is where his story began to be written: Boston River would soon notice that young and exuberant footballer, already to play in the Primera charrúa. It was his last step before the former Barça technical secretary, Ramon Planes, insisted on signing him to the Blaugrana subsidiary.

His incorporation was viewed with suspicion at Sant Joan Despí because he was a profile very far removed from the Barça label and, in fact, Araujo suffered to achieve many concepts related to the idea of ​​positional play. “His humble nature, his desire to learn and his will helped a lot in his integration,” a source close to the Uruguayan reminds ARA. “Even, he got to be one of the captains of the subsidiary.” Leadership skills are one of the other arguments that help to understand the figure of a player who already knew what it was to captain the Uruguayan under-20 team before landing in Barcelona.

Puyol and Van Dijk, the benchmarks of Araujo’s success

But while he stood out especially for his physical attributes, his ability to work and his concentration, Araujo had a lot of homework to do with the ball and in understanding basic concepts linked to the associative game. To win a place at Barça he was inspired by Carles Puyol. “Not only did he watch videos of his matches, but he was also interested in his life: he watched documentaries or any content related to the ex-captain,” recalls the same source. Liverpool central defender Virgil van Dijk is his other great reference.

Video analysis has helped him a lot in his improvement so as not to be a strange body in the Barça football ecosystem. From the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper they emphasize to the ARA that it is not only thestaff who advises Araujo to watch videos of the matches to improve, but it is he himself who asks for it and is the first to take an interest in continuing to evolve. He already started to polish these aspects with the former coach of the subsidiary García Pimienta and now his progression has been noticeable with Xavi. The coach, who has often complained about the lack of understanding of some of the team’s tactical concepts, has singled out the centre-back as “who has improved the most” since leading the bench. “He works a lot with the video, reviewing his games. And we focus a lot in training on decision-making: looking for the third man, splitting, fixing… This was quite difficult for him at the beginning, but in a short time he has improved a lot. He is a great professional and knows he has room for improvement,” explains the coach.

The winning rivalry with Vinícius Junior

The facet in which Araujo is already one of “the best defenders in the world”, according to Xavi, is that of tasks without the ball: “He is very strong, fast and has a great intuition. He usually comes out victorious in aggressive duels”. According to data from the League, Rivera’s has won 49 of the 77 duels in which it has participated in the 13 games of the competition it has played this year. Vínícius, for his part, is the player in the First Division who attempts the most dribbles: 182 in 24 games, of which he has successfully completed 77 (the first in the League, followed by Nico Williams: 54 hits from 110 attempts).

But the Brazilian’s statistics don’t shine when he has Araujo in front of him, with whom he maintains a strictly sporting rivalry: they respect each other and have Fede Valverde, a Madrid player and Uruguayan international, a bond of union. Whenever the Blaugrana central defender has played from the side against Madrid, Barça has won: 0-4 last season at the Bernabéu and, this season, 1-3 in the Supercopa final and 0-1 in the first leg of the Cup semi-finals.

That all changed when, after last season’s Super Cup semi-finals, Xavi saw the Brazilian outplay Dani Alves time and time again. Who had to go to help the side? Ronald Araujo. Since then, the Barcelona coach has always paired them. With resounding success.