Barcelona has suffered another injury blow with the news that defender Ronald Araujo is out of their clash with Napoli.
Barca host Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday evening at the Camp Nou and news has emerged that Ronald Araujo suffered a muscular problem last weekend in the derby draw with Espanyol and hasn’t been able to recover in time.
The player was taken off at halftime and is yet to resume training with the rest of the squad. The club is set for a warm down on Thursday morning but Ronald Araujo is not expected to be part of the session.
Apart from the defender, Barcelona will also be without both Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti at Mestalla who are both suffering from different injuries.
Away from the injury, the midfielder Pedri believes the club can cope with the favorites tag emblazoned on them in the competition.
“I don’t think it’s a weight [on us]. Whenever we play in the Champions League we are favorites because we are Barcelona. I think the weight [of expectation] is always the same because we are used to winning,” he said.
The Blaugrana are competing in a new stage of the Europa League in which Champions League dropouts face group stage runners-up in a play-off to join the group winners in the round of 16.
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