Barcelona and Real Madrid players will be arriving back to Spain in dribs and drabs after another international break, with a quick turnaround before they face Athletic Club and Sevilla respectively. In the back of their mind will be El Clasico, which now looms just 10 days away.
With Real Madrid dealing well with the losses of Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois, and Barcelona now ravaged with issues plagueing Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Robert Lewandowski, Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal, Los Blancos may well like their chances of getting a win at Montjuic.
Real Madrid have an advantage of three points over their biggest rivals, and defeat would ask major questions of Barcelona’s candidacy for the title. However there is one piece of positive news for the Blaugrana.
As Brazil were sunk by Uruguay 2-0 in Montevideo on Tuesday night, Ronald Araujo won the battle against Vinicius Junior again. The 24-year-old was not directly up against Vinicius all evening, being used in central defence rather than at right-back as Xavi Hernandez has thus far done so. Making 4 clearances and winning 6 individual duels (the most of the match), Araujo committed just one foul in an excellent performance, as per Sport.
🚨 Ronald Araújo played an impeccable game for Uruguay against Brazil last night. He kept Vinícius quiet, and won four of his five aerial duels, won six individual duels and only committed one foul. In the construction phase, he made six passes into the final third. @sergidejuan9… pic.twitter.com/Wh1ZLiukgY
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 18, 2023
Vinicius had little to show for his efforts other than a penalty appeal that was turned down. The two will face off at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys providing there are no fitness issues, but it will once again be a fascinating battle between the two.
The last time the two played, Vinicius got the better of Araujo for the first time in a 4-0 thrashing of the Blaugrana. With Jules Kounde likely missing the match, Xavi will have to choose between his favoured Vinicius tactic and adding Inigo Martinez to the backline, or keeping Araujo in the middle and using Joao Cancelo at right-back.
