MY ACCOUNT
Barcelona coach Xavi has confirmed Ronald Araujo “is conscious and out of danger” but will spend the night in hospital after leaving the win against Celta Vigo in an ambulance.
Araujo clashed heads with team-mate Gavi shortly after the hour mark in Tuesday’s LaLiga match when contesting an aerial ball just inside their own half.
Gavi stayed down, whereas Araujo initially appeared to chase after the ball, only to then collapse to the turf.
Both sets of players urged medical staff to enter the field, and the 23-year-old received around 10 minutes of treatment before being taken to a nearby hospital.
The incident somewhat overshadowed Barca’s 3-1 victory, but Xavi provided a positive update on Araujo’s condition shortly after full-time.
“We were scared at first,” Xavi told Movistar+. “The doctors have told us he is conscious and out of danger. But he will be spending the rest of the night in the hospital.
“Tomorrow, hopefully, he will be back at home. It’s just a scare.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s double, after Memphis Depay had earlier opened the scoring, gave Barca a 3-0 lead against Celta.
Celta recovered from three goals down to draw 3-3 in November’s reverse fixture, though, and pulled one back through Iago Aspas at Camp Nou.
However, a red card issued to former Barca loanee Jeison Murillo ultimately ended the visitors’ hopes of rescuing another unlikely point.
With his goal, Aspas has now scored 10 times in 15 league games against Barcelona – only Diego Forlan has scored as many against them this century in LaLiga.
Aspas was asked about his goal in his post-match interview, but his immediate focus was the well-being of Araujo.
“Firstly, I want to send a message of encouragement to Ronald. I don’t know what happened,” he said. “He left on a stretcher, but they have told us that now he is better.
“At first when I saw the incident, he looked a bit stunned. Then I saw him from the side, with his head down and that’s why we called the medics.
“In the game, we have had many more chances than Barcelona, but we weren’t effective neither in the rival area nor our own.”
