Bielsa opens the door and Barça gets excited: Is Araujo returning sooner than expected?

After the confirmation of the match against Osasuna on March 27 at 21:00 hours, FC Barcelona set the wheels in motion to find solutions to have Ronald Araujo and Raphinha available against the red and whites, as both players, key in Hansi Flick's scheme, will play their last matches of this FIFA date on Tuesday the 25th, leaving them almost no time to be available for the coach that Thursday.

Although the outlook was initially completely discouraging, the Catalans may have found the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. The club's idea is for the Uruguayan and the Brazilian to return to Spain along with the other South American internationals playing for Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid on a private plane from Buenos Aires, which would land in the Catalan capital on Wednesday afternoon-evening.

Although they will not have been able to train with the rest of the group in the last session, everything indicates that they would enter the list of the blaugrana coach and watch the match from the bench. In fact, if the match requires it, they could even get minutes in the second half, but the reality is that the long transoceanic trip, 'jet lag', and accumulated fatigue could affect them for the LaLiga clash.

Ronald Araujo could return early

However, the latest statements from Uruguay's coach, Marcelo Bielsa, have sparked excitement in Can Barça. Despite the fact that the Uruguayans were defeated by Argentina last Friday (0-1), the coach announced rotations for the match against Bolivia in El Alto, located 4,150 meters above sea level, next Tuesday.

"Playing there increases the level of difficulty of a match. Surely players who played against Argentina will not play. Some will and others will not. I imagine the match with the limitation that comes from playing in those conditions. But the altitude does not invalidate our position of going to win the match and believing that we can do it," explained 'El Loco'.

These words lead to the belief that one of the sacrifices from the Rosario coach will be a Araujo who played the full 90 minutes against the Albiceleste despite recently overcoming some physical issues. In order to prevent the player from accumulating unnecessary minutes, Bielsa could release him for the match against the Bolivians and open the door for his early return to the Catalan capital, although he could also include him in the squad but allowing him to travel to Barcelona more quickly.

If this scenario materializes, the defender would be in full physical condition for the match against Osasuna, which would be a huge relief for Hansi Flick, who has a significant puzzle in the center of defense due to the injury of Iñigo Martínez and the doubts with Pau Cubarsí who suffered a strain of the anterior tibioperoneal ligament of the right ankle with Spain and whose presence on Thursday remains uncertain. More updates could come in the next few hours.