Barcelona captain opens up on mental health battles – ‘I knew there was something not right’
The night of November 25, 2025, at Stamford Bridge was one Ronald Araujo will perhaps not forget. Barcelona were beaten 3-0 by Chelsea in the Champions League, and the Uruguayan defender’s red card ...
Barcelona captain opens up on mental health battles – ‘I knew there was something not right’ The night of November 25, 2025, at Stamford Bridge was one Ronald Araujo will perhaps not forget. Barcelona were beaten 3-0 by Chelsea in the Champions League, and the Uruguayan defender’s red card just before half-time proved to be the moment the game slipped away. Days after the match, Barcelona granted him an indefinite leave of absence.
He travelled to Israel on a spiritual retreat, then returned home to Uruguay to spend Christmas with family, before rejoining the squad at the turn of the year. In a recent interview with Movistar+ (h/t SPORT ), he spoke candidly about what he went through during that period, about how he dealt with stress and depression. Araujo breaks his silence The defender described the warning signs he had been carrying before the Chelsea night ever arrived.
“I knew there was something not right, because you feel like things aren’t going well, you feel a bit sadder, and in terms of performance, you don’t feel capable of delivering what you know you can deliver as a player. ” “At that point, things aren’t working. Plus, you come home with all this stress, and at home, you’re no longer the same as you used to be,” he said.
For Araujo, the effects of that period extended far beyond the pitch and into the parts of his life that matter most to him. “As a person, by nature, I’m very family-oriented. I love showing affection to my wife and daughters, but I felt like I had lost that a little.