Real Madrid News
Real Madrid superstar is the best in 1v1 situations, says Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo
As Real Madrid prepare to face Barcelona for the second time this month, Blaugrana defender Ronald Araujo has admitted that Vinicius Jr. is currently the number one player when it comes to one-on-one situations.
Both Vinicius and Araujo have produced scintillating displays over the past few games for their teams, but the latter has had the upper hand in their direct duels.
The most recent encounter was the Copa del Rey semi-final clash where the Uruguayan came out on top in the contest.
Interestingly enough, every time Araujo has been used as a right-back against Real Madrid by Xavi, Barcelona have won the match. In fact, it must be noted that in two of those three matches, Madrid have failed to score a goal.
During the Supercopa de Espana final in January this year, Barcelona defeated Madrid 3-1 with goals coming from Gavi, Pedri and Robert Lewandowski. Throughout the game, Araujo proved to be a total menace to Vinicius.
In March 2022, Barcelona beat Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Although the defeat did not mean anything for Carlo Ancelotti’s men as they were already confirmed as the champions of the league, the win was important for Barcelona in their Champions League qualification process.
For now, the two teams are gearing up for the upcoming El Clasico, to be played on Sunday at Camp Nou. Speaking ahead of the game, Araujo had nothing but kind words for Vinicius.
“For me today, Vinicius is number one in one-on-one. He is a very good player, very unbalancing. It’s difficult, obviously. But he worked to be able to give his best in matches like this. I’m glad things are going well,” the defender told ESPN (h/t Diario AS).
The 24-year-old also spoke about the 4-0 win last season. Interestingly, Araujo was not only successful in minimizing Vinicius’ threat, but he ended up on the scoresheet.
“It was very important for us because we were coming from a tough time, and after losing several games with Madrid. I think that game was like turning that around a bit, saying ‘here we are, we’re coming back’,” he said.
There is no way back for Eden Hazard at Real Madrid. The Belgian international has not given the management any reason to have faith in his abilities over his past four seasons at the club and is unsurprisingly the most important departure for the Merengues in the summer.
Hazard has one more year on his contract in Madrid. However, it is clear that Carlo Ancelotti does not trust him and that any potential replacement manager in the summer will echo his stance.
According to reports from Mundo Deportivo, Fenerbahce are willing to go all out to sign Hazard this summer. The Turkish side have made the former Chelsea their prime target, yet face a steep task ahead of them.
The 32-year-old is hellbent on seeing out his contract with Los Blancos despite seeing his career sink right before his eyes. It thus becomes complicated for the party to lure away the forward, especially in a competition outside Europe’s top five leagues.
Fenerbahce attempted to sign the winger in the recently concluded winter transfer market. They reached an agreement with Real Madrid but failed to get over the line as they could not convince the player of the move.
The biggest obstacle for the Turkish side will be convincing Hazard to make the move by letting go of his lucrative contract in Madrid. The chances are slim, but not impossible.
Hazard has made just three league appearances and one start for Ancelotti’s side this season in La Liga, a steep fall from last season’s 18 and seven respectively.
His last appearance for the team came back in January when Real Madrid faced Cacereno in the Copa del Rey. In La Liga however, he last played in September 2022 in a 4-1 win over Mallorca.
