The Ronald Araujo Liverpool loan is going rather better than most people at the Spotify Camp Nou expected.
On Wednesday night at Anfield, the Uruguayan produced the moment of the evening in a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid — and then spent his post-match interview talking about Barca.
Araujo left on a season-long loan in the summer window, with a purchase option reported at €55 million. Six weeks on he is starting in the Champions League for Andoni Iraola’s side, and he is still watching every minute the Blaugrana play.
A backheel worthy of the occasion
Liverpool’s equaliser against Atletico came from an unlikely source. Araujo, pushed up inside the box, produced a first-time backheel that slid between the two centre-backs and released Dominik Szoboszlai to finish past Jan Oblak. It was the kind of improvisation Barca supporters rarely saw from him in four seasons of blocks, headers and last-ditch sprints.
“It was a nice shot, a good opportunity inside the box. I was lucky it went between the centre-backs,” Araujo said afterwards.
“I’m very happy and very pleased to be able to help the team.”
He was similarly measured about the performance as a whole. “It was a very difficult match. We knew they were going to make it very difficult for us. We were compact and played our style of football, and we were able to get the three points.”
‘Barca are flying’
The line that will travel furthest in Catalonia had nothing to do with Anfield. Asked by Movistar Liga de Campeones about his old club’s chances this season, Araujo did not hedge.
“Of course, Barcelona are one of the favourites to win the Champions League. They’re flying,” he told the Spanish broadcaster, in comments carried by Mundo Deportivo.
“I’m following Barca. I’m very happy for my teammates. They have a great team. I always follow them and I’m really delighted with what they’re living through right now.”
He was not watching in isolation. On the same night Araujo was setting up goals on Merseyside, Hansi Flick’s side were taking Feyenoord apart at the Spotify Camp Nou, a 5-1 win built on a Raphinha double and a Lamine Yamal free-kick. Barca have now scored 22 goals in five matches in all competitions.
Why the loan suits everybody — for now
Araujo’s exit was one of the more emotive pieces of business of a busy summer.
He had been at the club since 2018, he had captained the side, and he had spent two years being asked to carry a defence through injuries and financial constraint. Flick’s high line, meanwhile, has come to look tailor-made for Pau Cubarsi and Andreas Christensen, with Eric Garcia and Jules Kounde providing cover.
For Liverpool, an experienced centre-back at loan cost is close to free money. For Araujo, it is a reset in a league that suits his physical profile. For Barca, it is breathing space on the wage bill in a season when the club’s salary limit has climbed to €582.7 million but every euro is still spoken for.
The complication arrives in the spring. That €55m option gives Liverpool the whip hand, and the better Araujo plays, the more awkward the maths becomes — as we set out when the terms of the deal first emerged. A defender performing like this at Anfield is either a windfall Barca bank without a fight, or one they end up regretting.
Araujo, for his part, sounds like a man in no hurry to resolve it. “It’s a big team like Barca. You have to give your best and there are high expectations,” he said of his new surroundings, in quotes reported by Barca Blaugranes. “I’m happy and working hard. I’m eager to give my all and be myself.”
Being himself, on this evidence, now includes the odd backheel.
