Barcelona attentive to Uruguayan defender’s international call-up amid growing injury woes

Times are concerning at Barcelona, as the Catalans find themselves grappling with an overflowing injury list amid a spell of tough games and some frustrating results.

After their 2-2 draw against Granada, the Blaugrana have had some more bad news dumped onto them, with defensive stalwart Jules Kounde and teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal both suffering from injuries.

As a result of Kounde’s injury, Ronald Araujo – who was initially given a rest – had to step in and deputise for the Frenchman.

While the Uruguayan did a great job and looked to be on his toes, Barcelona are hanging by a thread in terms of their starting personnel, and SPORT report that there are concerns about Araujo’s involvement during international duty.

Barcelona cannot afford a relapse

Now, as he travels with the Uruguay squad on international duty, Barcelona are worried that there will be too much asked of him.

The defender has only just returned from an injury to his thigh, and that is why Xavi made the decision to rest him on Sunday initially.

With Kounde seemingly out for five weeks, Araujo is absolutely essential to Xavi’s setup, especially with an incredibly crucial run of fixtures coming up after the international break ends.

A big worrying point would be that Araujo suffered quite a major injury around the same time last year when on international duty, which then kept him out of the World Cup.

Barcelona will also seek to end their two-year barren run of Champions League knockout football, and even with a fit backline, the Catalans have been conceding way more silly goals lately than they would like to.

The club will thus be hoping that Uruguay are not overly demanding with Araujo in the next couple of weeks.