FC Barcelona came back from a very complicated match against Real Oviedo (1-3) on a stellar night for Ronald Araujo. The '4', although he started in the Champions League debut against Newcastle, had not started in La Liga since the comeback against Levante, a match where the culés had a really bad time in defense.
In the visit to the Carlos Tartiere Stadium, Hansi Flick's team started down on the scoreboard again, this time due to a mistake by Joan García with the ball. Gerard Martín and Pau Cubarsí also left some doubts on the left, while the right side found two guarantees in Araujo and Eric García.
The 'charrúa' was not only attentive to lend a hand to Cubarsí when the '5' had a bad time marking Salomón Rondón. He also dared to go up frequently to the rival area. In the 32nd minute, Ronald captured a rebound from goalkeeper Aarón Escandell after a shot by Raphinha. The Uruguayan shot on goal, but the rival goalkeeper managed to block it on the goal line.
Ronald Araujo: key in two of Barça's three goals in Oviedo
In the second half, the Uruguayan would have his revenge. First, in the 56th minute, a run down the left allowed Ferran Torres to finish entering the small area. Aarón again responded with a great save to prevent the '7' from scoring, but Eric took advantage of the loose ball to push it into the empty net.
Then, in the 70th minute, Barça took the lead with a great goal from Robert Lewandowski with a header. The third would come in the same way, in the 88th minute, this time scored by Araujo. The center-back beat the Oviedo defenders with a powerful jump, heading freely from a corner by Marcus Rashford from the right side.
In total, the azulgrana captain completed 67 of 72 passes (93 %) during the 90 minutes, in addition to recovering a couple of balls and completing two shots on goal. One was blocked by Aarón, the other ended in a goal, his first of the season.
Hansi Flick, satisfied with the performance of Araujo and the Barça center-backs
In the post-match press conference, Hansi Flick valued the performance of Ronald Araujo and the entire Barcelona defense, beyond the goal conceded and some scares in the first half.
"Last year Iñigo and Pau played a lot together. We have made different lines, but I think they are responding well. We have top players in defense and being able to choose is good," the coach pointed out when referring to the 'charrúa'.
Will Flick change his central duo again on Sunday against Real Sociedad? In the first six matchdays of La Liga, the Araujo-Cubarsí duo has been the most used (3 times), but only Eric García has played all the matches.