Barcelona star Ronald Araújo has this afternoon provided his take on the challenge awaiting he and his teammates in keeping the explosive attacking duo of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé quiet.
As much, of course, comes fresh off Barca learning the club’s fate for the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
After sending Italian champions Napoli packing from the competition earlier this week, Xavi and co. will now be tasked with getting the better of French equivalents Paris Saint-Germain, with a spot in the final four at stake.
The tie has given rise to a whole host of noteworthy talking points, not least the fact that it will pit Barcelona against the talents of a headline incoming addition to the ranks of their most bitter rivals.
The player in question? Kylian Mbappé.
Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, it therefore came as little surprise when the subject of facing off against Real Madrid’s soon-to-be Galactico was put to the aforementioned Ronald Araújo.
And Barca’s defensive stalwart was in no two minds when it comes to the test in store for he and his defensive partners, in explaining to TV3 (as cited by Mundo Deportivo):
“He is a great rival, a great player. For me, today, he is the most unbalanced one-on-one and a very important player for them.
“I still don’t know what position I’m going to play in, but we know the quality of the player he is.”
Araújo then turned his attentions towards another of PSG’s chief attacking threats, in the form of Ousmane Dembélé.
The Uruguayan is of course very much aware of just what a threat Dembélé poses when fit and firing on all cylinders, having lined out alongside the winger for four years in Catalunya.
In turn, Araújo went on to highlight:
“They have Ousmane, too, who we had here, who is also very good one-on-one. We will try to counteract that virtue of theirs, also with our football.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
