Barcelona defender yet to fully recover from knee discomfort ahead of Rayo clash

In a matter of hours, FC Barcelona will lock horns with Rayo Vallecano in their final home game of the 2023/24 season.

A win against Inigo Perez’s side will guarantee a second-place finish for the Blaugrana, ascertaining their participation in the Spanish Super Cup for next season, which will bring in significant cashflow.

Going into the match, though, Xavi Hernandez has some selection issues to deal with, one of which involves key defender Ronald Araujo.

Still not fully fit

Araujo has not played for Barcelona in their last two matches against Real Sociedad and Almeria due to some discomfort.

And while he resumed training yesterday and was named in the squad list today for the Rayo Vallecano encounter, there is still uncertainty over his situation.

In fact, Javi Miguel of AS reports that Araujo still has not fully recovered from his knee discomfort with under four hours left for kickoff.

Araujo has missed Barcelona’s last two matches. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

As such, there is a very small chance of the Uruguayan international being named in the starting XI by Xavi against Vallecano.

Araujo was included in the squad list as this will be Barça’s final home game of the season and the player did not want to miss it.

However, chances of him starting are minimal as things stand, and it even remains to be seen if he does feature in any capacity or not.

With plenty of speculations doing the rounds about Araujo and his future, it will be intriguing to see whether it turns out to be his final home match in the Blaugrana colours.

Meanwhile, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, and Alejandro Balde are definitively ruled out through injury for Barcelona.