It has been a difficult week for Barcelona. Expectations were very high given the team’s overall performance, which made the blow even harder with their tough elimination in the semifinals against Inter Milan. It was a match full of football and goals, with a final score of 7-6, which has left the Barça defense in question, with the spotlight on Araújo.
The truth is that, although it has not had any consequences, Barça has been faltering in defense for some time, with Szczesny losing his touch. Barça has conceded 16 goals in its last seven official matches, a figure that is far from what a team fighting for titles such as the Champions League should be.
The ‘decline’ at the back began in the match against Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, where Barça held on to their 4-0 lead from the first leg but conceded three goals that opened the floodgates for another three from Celta, two from Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey and three from Inter Milan at Montjuic. Against Real Valladolid, they only conceded one, but a team already relegated also put them in trouble.
The culmination of the defensive collapse undoubtedly came in the match at the Giuseppe Meazza. Simone Inzaghi’s side went into the break 2-0 up, and although Barça reacted, the tie ended up going to the Italians with a 4-3 result, with Araújo heavily involved in the last two goals for the home side.
Jules Koundé, indispensable
Jules Koundé was absent from several of these defeats, but he was in Milan as just another fan traveling on a regular flight to support the team. It was in the first leg at Montjuic that the full-back was injured, falling to the ground in the 42nd minute after a great first half. Eric García came on to replace him and has established himself in that position, with more and more voices calling for his contract to be renewed.
Returning to the Frenchman, his injury prevented him from playing in the semi-finals and will also rule him out of this weekend’s El Clásico. Koundé was key in the other matches against Real Madrid, being responsible for stopping Vinicius, who failed to find the net. With a very tight schedule, the injury to a player who is indispensable to Hansi Flick came at the worst possible time.
The player was playing his 53rd game of the season against Inter, having started 50 of them. He is undisputed. That is why Barça is already working on his renewal. There is an agreement in principle almost finalized between the club and Jules Koundé for him to continue wearing the Barça shirt until 2030.
Reinforcing the right side of the defense
In order to prevent the player from having to play the number of minutes he has accumulated this season, which led to his injury, Barça’s priority in the transfer market is to find a right-back. His natural replacement is Héctor Fort, who has not yet proven himself, hence the conversion of the versatile Eric García to full-back, but a high-level competitor is needed and the Barça team has sounded out several names, to which one more has now been added.
Pedro Porro on Barça’s agenda
That new candidate is Spanish right-back Pedro Porro. His current club, Tottenham, is open to letting him go this summer and, according to Fichajes.net, Barça is closely following him along with Atleti and Villarreal. The Spanish player, a regular in the English team’s starting lineup, has a contract until 2028 and it will not be easy to put a price on his departure. The figure being mentioned is likely to be in excess of €60 million.