Araujo's goal scoring return: "I was desperate to get back"

Ronald Araujo was one of the protagonists of Barcelona's Copa del Rey win against Intercity (3-4) in what was his comeback from the injury suffered in a friendly with Uruguay against Iran at the end of September.

The Uruguayan central defender had to undergo surgery and has been away from the pitch for a period of 110 days, missing the World Cup.

In his reappearance, Araujo scored the goal which opened the scoring and then stopped a certain goal for Aarón Piñán, sliding in to clear off the line. It is not surprising then that the center-back was euphoric after the game -- apart from Barça suffering to obtain their place in the last 16.

"I'm happy to be back after a lot of hard work and suffering," he said. "I haven't played for a long time and I wanted to get back as soon as possible. It's a shame that I couldn't play at the World Cup, which was what I wanted the most, but now we have to think about Sunday and another final (against Atletico Madrid)."

Araujo also revealed that his substitution in the second half was agreed upon in advance to avoid a relapse: "Yes, we had talked about 45 or 60 minutes depending on how I felt. At half-time I told (Xavi) that he could play a little more. The most important thing is that I felt very comfortable."

The Uruguayan central defender was delighted with the win, too, despite having to certify it in extra time.

"This is the magic of the cup," he added. "These things happen in this tournament. We have already seen that several LaLiga teams have been knocked out.

"When we won it (in 2021), we went to extra time in all the games.. We took the lead very quickly tonight, but we conceded a goal from set pieces when we knew it was their strong point."