Relief with Araujo: Uruguay frees him from friendlies

Thanks to this, the azulgrana center-back will avoid the long trip to Asia and will be able to stay in Barcelona for two weeks, allowing him to rest and return in full condition to the competition after the second interruption of the season due to national team commitments.

Araujo, out of Bielsa´s list

As reported by Mundo Deportivo, the Uruguayan defender will not be in the preparation matches for the 2026 World Cup that will be played in Malaysia: against the Dominican Republic on Friday, October 10 at 14:45 (CET) and against Uzbekistan on Monday the 13th at the same time. Bielsa´s call-up also omits top-level players like Fede Valverde or Darwin Núñez, opting this time for a list that features many young prospects.

Youth in Uruguay´s call-up

The Argentine coach will take advantage of these friendlies to closely observe 12 emerging talents from Uruguayan football: Paulo Da Costa (Peñarol), Brian Barboza (Peñarol), Pablo Cardozo (Danubio), Benjamín García (Montevideo City Torque), Julio Daguer (Peñarol), Yuri Oyarzo (Racing), Pablo Alcoba (Albion), Luciano González (Nacional), Agustín Dos Santos (Nacional), Alan Torterolo (Defensor Sporting), Facundo Martínez (Montevideo City Torque) and Nicolás Azambuja (Danubio).

Barça also watching the Lamine case

The calmness of Barcelona regarding Araujo´s release coincides with the controversy surrounding Lamine Yamal. Luis de la Fuente included the young forward in the last call-up for Spain, despite still suffering from pubic discomfort, which intensified during the international matches in September. In light of this situation, the Catalan club was forced to issue a medical statement, ruling out the winger for the match against Sevilla. The plan for Barça is for Lamine to take advantage of these two weeks without competition to fully recover and arrive in optimal condition for the next Clásico.