While last week’s 3-0 battering at home to Bayern Munich has been held up as an indication how far this once great Barcelona side has fallen in recent years, last night’s 1-1 draw with a struggling Granada side was arguably a better reflection of their sad demise.
There’s no shame in losing to Bayern, European champions in 2020 and boasting world-class players in every position.
Granada, however, are a different proposition entirely, struggling at the bottom of La Liga and licking their wounds following a traumatic 4-0 defeat at newly promoted Rayo Vallecano.
And while Barcelona did escape with a point to their name last night, it was the nature of the way that point was gained that had many Barca supporters wondering whether this is how life is going to be post-Leo.
Ronald Araujo, their all-action Uruguayan centre-half, looked like Barcelona’s most likely source of a goal all night.
And it was no surprise he, rather than Memphis Depay or Luuk de Jong, eventually came to Ronald Koeman’s rescue, converting one of the 54 crosses the Catalans attempted on the night after being repositioned as a makeshift centre-forward.
Yes, things really did get that desperate at Camp Nou.
Is former Everton target Ronald Araujo Barcelona’s new hero?
There was a time, earlier in the summer, when it looked as though Araujo would be sold by a Barcelona side haemorrhaging cash and facing financial ruin.
In May, Mundo Deportivo reported Everton were interested and a club that would eventually cash in on the likes of Emerson Royal, Carles Alena and Junior Firpo – while loaning out Antoine Griezmann just two years after signing him for £100 million – would surely have shaken Farhad Moshiri by the hand.
But as Araujo basks in the praise of Barcelona supporters, an unlikely hero at a club desperately searching for a new talisman, Koeman and co must be glad Everton failed to turn their interest into anything more serious.
Here’s what some Barcelona fans on Twitter thought about last night’s game:
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