"Not being able to play in the World Cup made me very sad"

The Uruguayan international Ronald Araujo (Rivera, 1999) still remembers with sadness his time at the World Cup in Qatar, where he did not make his debut with Uruguay because he was not yet recovered from the muscle injury that forced him to undergo surgery a few weeks before the start of the World Cup.

In an interview granted to 'EFE' at the FC Barcelona training complex, the defender acknowledges that he had a "very bad time" after not playing in the World Cup, but prefers to think about the future that awaits the Uruguayan national team with his generation and the players who finished runners-up in the last South American Under 20.

"Not being able to play in the World Cup made me very sad, I had a very hard time because it was what I wanted most. I wanted to be there, with my national team, to play in a World Cup with my country. It hurt me a lot not to make my debut, I was very bad after the World Cup," he reveals.

Araujo was expected to be a regular at the back for the FIFA World Cup, but an unfortunate injury to the adductor longus tendon in his right thigh in a friendly against Iran on 23 September complicated his participation in Qatar.

At the end of September he underwent surgery in Finland and, although his presence in the Uruguay squad was practically ruled out, he finally joined the squad.