Barcelona star Ronald Araújo again proved himself unable to perform when it matters most on the European stage on Tuesday.
This comes after the Blaugrana made the trip to west London to lock horns with Chelsea in the Champions League.
Araújo, for his part, was reintroduced to the visitors’ XI for the evening, slotting into the heart of Hansi Flick’s backline.
One needless mistake later, however, and the Uruguayan left his teammates in a hole from which they were always unlikely to recover.
Already on a yellow card for dissent, and with Barca trailing by a goal to nil, Araújo flew into a challenge on Marc Cucurella.
Completely missing the ball and wiping out the Spaniard, though, the stopper left the officials in charge with little choice but to send him for an early bath.
And in the process, Araújo proved for just the latest time why he can’t be relied upon on high-profile European nights.
After similarly rash mistakes and lapses against the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan in the past, the 26-year-old on Tuesday added Chelsea to the list of clubs against whom he came up short when it mattered most.
Conor Laird – GSFN
