It was a special night and, smug as he is, he dyed his hair. Again. With a different color, a silver with blue tints, in line with the fashion that has broken into the classic week of altering all natural colors. The whites came out in black, the azulgranas were exhibited in yellow and the dark-haired Ronald Araujo appeared with a clear head, also in line with the precise instructions that Xavi had given him for the classic.
Although he was playing his second classic, it was the first for real. The premiere at the Bernabéu, which has nothing to do with Valdebebas. Nor can the fact of playing as a central defender, accompanied, to keep an eye on Benzema, be compared to playing as a winger to face Vinicius. And without help, because he could not trust the occupants of the right wing (Frenkie and Dembélé), with a very uncooperative profile in defense. So Araujo had to face a solo duel, hand in hand, bareback, with Vinicius. He won it. Brilliantly as his head announced.
A day to fail or to succeed. Radical night. No half measures. Nor in the hair on the grass. Araujo also played the tone with which his representative will sit at the negotiating table. He gave him full powers to ask for the millionaire that Joan Laporta haggles over him. It will be expensive, more expensive, Araujo in his new contract after the game.
Auba, Memphis, Luuk and him
The president would sign what he asked for last night, relieved, on the other hand, for not having to negotiate anything with Aubameyang, who had just arrived in winter, just like Ferran. He is entitled to ask, as he is the team’s fourth scorer, after Memphis, Aubameyang, Luuk de Jonh and Ferran, with whom he is tied.
Because Araujo, like the strikers, also scored. He didn’t have to. He just had to prevent Vinicius from marking. But he scored.
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They invited him, almost, to do it in a corner. He slipped alone into the careless zonal defense of the whites (the blacks) and trotted forward, without any opposition, sneaking between Alaba and Militao, to head Dembélé’s shot. He jumped with more faith than anyone and ran mad while Vinicius watched the scene, convinced that the night was definitely going to go wrong.
The Brazilian already sensed it in the first duel. Launched in the race, he did not beat him as happened in the Super Cup with 0-1. Araujo has seen dozens of videos since that night, following his football progression, and looked for a shoulder-to-shoulder clash to stop Vinicius’ superior speed. An hour later, he celebrated the third duel he won like a goal, this time against David Alaba, rocky like him, in his only offensive excursion down the wing.