Who was Man Of The Match? Ronald Araujo
Barcelona faced Granada on Matchday 5 in La Liga, starting in 10th place in the table, and were off to a shocker off a start conceding in the 2nd minute of the game, until 22 year old Uruguyan Ronald Araujo equalised in the 91st minute. For rescuing a point, and for keeping Granada at bay for the rest of the game (after conceding the early goal), Araujo is today’s Man of the Match.
In the match against Granada, a team 14th in the table, only 2 points behind the mighty Barcelona, Granada shocked the giants from Catalunya, by taking an early lead. Granada’s first corner of the game in the 2nd minute of the game was not dealt properly, and went back to the corner kick taker Sergio Escudero, who put the ball back in, where Domingos Duarte was present to nod the ball past Ter Stegen.
Granada led the game until the 90th minute, until Araujo equalised to salvage a point for Barcelona. 17 year old Gavi, who had come on for ex Liverpool man, Phillipe Coutinho in the 60th minute, had his first assist for Barcelona’s first team, whose cross was met by Araujo, who scored in the dying minutes of the game.
Barca salvaged a point from the game after being behind for the entirety of it, and the game was yet another example of the current of Barcelona Football Club. The Blaugrana are just not the same team anymore than dominated world football a decade ago. The squad is decimated, and the club is in serious turmoil. The departure of Lionel Messi to PSG, and Antoine Greizmann back to Atletico Madrid (on loan for now) due to financial reasons confirmed how poorly the management had been running the club for a while. Ronald Koeman has a huge task ahead, if he’s the man to take Barcelona anywhere near its glory days.
With that point, Barcelona moved into 7th place, with 8 points on the table, 5 points behind arch rivals, Real Madrid.
Lets check out Araujo MOTM worthy stats:
Player Stat:
Rating: 8.1
Minutes played: 90
Pass accuracy %: 96
Touches: 78
Goal contribution: 1
Shots (on target): 3
Dribbles: 1
Aerial duels won: 9
Interceptions: 1
Clearances: 2
Granda fans will feel disappointed after leading the game for so long, and being so close to a famous victory over Barcelona at the Nou Camp, but it wasn’t to be. Granda’s defence nullified the Barcelona defence for 88 minutes of the game, but fell short at the end, as the game ended 1-1. Granda’s Portuguese keeper Luís Maximiano kept Granda in the game, and even with the game ending with a draw, Maximiano should be proud of his contributions to the game.
Let’s look at his MOTM worthy stats:
Rating: 7.9
Minutes played: 90
Pass accuracy %: 57
Saves: 5
Claims: 2
MyMOTM 