"In a final of sudden storms three clear chances and a goal in 2min 54sec after half an hour, three goals in 3min 33sec of first half added time, three golden opportunities saved in 10 second-half minutes theirs had been the last. Some 134 seconds passed between Marcus Rashford smashing wide and two glimpses of salvation appearing before Madrid but they couldn't grasp either, on 95.04 and 96.42. So Barcelona had first trophy of the season."
"A final still less so, and for the man wearing the Uruguay flag round his waist and the Catalan flag round his arm especially. More than champions, Sport said, which was as true as it was unimaginative; for Araujo, this wasn't just the title. He was only on the pitch for four minutes and 24 seconds but that was a win already and beyond the football, the play, was something else, always there if not always seen: a person."
Ronald Araujo returned 47 days later in a final, received the captain's armband and lifted the Super Cup after Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2. The match featured rapid momentum shifts: three clear chances and a goal within 2 minutes 54 seconds after half an hour, three goals in 3 minutes 33 seconds of first-half added time, and three saved opportunities in a ten-minute spell after the break. Marcus Rashford missed and two late Madrid chances at 95.04 and 96.42 went unconverted. Araujo played four minutes and 24 seconds and cradled the cup as a gesture of strength and support.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]