Barcelona are set to be without key defender Ronald Araujo for a number of weeks after he suffered thigh strain in training on Thursday. Xavi Hernandez gave an update on his fitness ahead of their clash with Cadiz.
Originally the diagnosis was for the Uruguayan to miss a month of action, which will be a key blow to Xavi and Barcelona. Last season Barcelona struggled without him, and ended up exiting Europe without him.
Xavi explained that the heavy fixture list was partly to blame.
“The schedule is so demanding. I have seen that Pep Guardiola complained. I am with him. He is right. We do not think about the footballer, but about the business. We try to have as few injuries as possible. Ronald gets injured training. It is part of the game. It will happen for all of his life. He ¡s a very significant injury.”
How long will he be about out? We always say the same, it depends on how he feels. After the international break, we’ll see, we hope to have him back by then.”
The Barcelona manaager was quizzed on what prevention work they are doing to avoid injuries for Araujo, who has suffered 13 injuries since joining the club.
“We already do prevention work. We control the load. They have a GPS. Yesterday it was a game and it was in a race. That can happen, as it could have happened to him in Getafe. There he played 100-odd minutes and it didn’t happen to him. These are unavoidable situations.”
His assessment tallies with earlier reports. That would mean Araujo would miss clashes against Cadiz (H), Villarreal (A) and Osasuna (A). After the international break, they return to action against Real Betis (H) on the 17th of September, which would be exactly a month since his injury.
