Barcelona star Ronald Araujo not playing due to agreement with Xavi Hernandez

Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo sat out their 1-0 win over Real Sociedad on the bench, and was left out of the squad entirely against Almeria, despite returning to training. Manager Xavi Hernandez had commented that he had minor fitness issue on Monday.

According to Sport, Araujo has been nursing discomfort in his tendons for several weeks, and had agreed with Xavi to sit out the next few games in order to recover fully. There is no injury per se that would prevent him from playing, but it was decided that it was not worth the risk for games that were not necessarily of prime importance, with Araujo preparing for the Copa America with Uruguay this summer.