Barça's Balde lavishes praise on Araujo after stunning Villarreal display
The Barcelona centre-back was in top for in the 1-0 win on Sunday
Villarreal's Yéremy Pino will remember Ronald Araujo for a few days. The Uruguayan was a wall. A competitive advantage for Barcelona, who once again demonstrated their solidity, this time at La Cerámica.
One of Araujo's teammates, Alejandro Balde, was blunt on the Movistar microphones when asked about the centre-back. "Araujo is a beast; he's a safety net at the back and we're very happy to have him with us."
Left-back Balde came into the XI in place of Jordi Alba, who had been in the starting line-up against Sevilla. And he put in another convincing performance. Once again, he was a first-class offensive weapon. "Xavi asks me to be me, to push forward. I'm very happy for the confidence, for the minutes and for being able to continue learning".
Araujo
Also speaking after the game, Araujo himself was very satisfied with his performance: "It's always difficult against an opponent like this. We are working very well in defence, which was something we needed to correct from last season. I'm happy with the numbers, for helping Marc (ter Stegen). The midfielders and forwards are also closing down the spaces."
Among the things to improve, he regretted that they are finding it difficult to close out games. "We sometimes lack the ability to sentence games. When you only lead 1-0 it can get complicated. But we're very happy with the win."
On the gap in the standings, 11 points back to Real Madrid, he was blunt: "We cannot lose our concentration. We don't have to look at what the others are doing, we have to do our own thing."
