Barcelona Brings Ronald Araujo and Three Young Players to the Spanish Super Cup, Minus Gavi

Gilabola.com – Barcelona leaves for Saudi Arabia on Monday local time 5 January 2026, ahead of competing in the Spanish Super Cup with Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

The semi-finals of the event started on Thursday morning WIB, January 8, where Barcelona will meet Athletic Bilbao.

The schedule then continues with the Madrid derby match on Friday morning WIB 9 January 2026, and the final match which is scheduled to take place at the weekend.

The team coached by Hansi Flick completed their final training session at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Monday morning local time, moments before they left for Saudi Arabia.

The German coach brought many delegates in his entourage to Jeddah, where the squad consisted of 24 players.

Ronald Araujo Entered the Super Cup Squad

This is something surprising. Ronald Araujo’s participation has even become one of the main highlights, because Araujo has not played since November 25, when Barcelona played at home to Chelsea.

The Uruguayan international player decided to rest to overcome the anxiety problems he experienced after the match which the Blues won 3-0.

Even though he was not included in the derby squad against Espanyol even though he was training again, Araujo still went with the team to the RCDE Stadium. Now, the former Boston River star is also part of the Blaugrana squad that is traveling for the Spanish Super Cup.

However, one thing is certain, Araujo’s presence at this event does not guarantee that he will be included in the Barca squad that will compete against Bilbao.

However, it must be admitted that Araujo’s re-entry into the Barca squad is positive news. The reason is, this at least shows that the tall defender is gradually recovering from the mental problems that made him take leave some time ago.

Gavi Still Absent

However, there will be no Gavi figure. This young player will not be part of the departing Barca group, although there are suggestions that he could actually support his teammates.

Gavi is also one of the players confirmed to be absent, because he is still recovering from an injury which apparently requires another operation.

Currently, Gavi remains in Barcelona and is focused on his recovery process, and must follow the planned schedule.

The midfield star is also reported to have shown good progress, although it is still too early for him to return to action on the pitch.

Apart from that, Andreas Christensen also did not go to Jeddah. The Danish international player also still feels uncomfortable walking, and the long trip to Arabia will certainly be very counterproductive for his recovery process.

Meanwhile, three regular players from the reserve team, namely Jofre Torrents, Tommy Marques and Dro Fernandez – all of whom have become regular players in recent weeks, also took part in Barca’s trip to Saudi Arabia.

The last two players – Marques and Fernandez, trained at Ciutat Esportiva on Monday morning local time, while the reserve team left back – Torrents, did not train with the first team, because he played the full part in Barca Atletic’s match against Ibiza at the weekend.

Our opinion

It was indeed surprising to learn that Barcelon brought in Ronald Araujo, who was still absent last weekend and had not played since Barca lost to Chelsea on 25 November. However, it is not certain that he will immediately be played by Hansi Flick in the first match against Athletic Bilbao in the Super Cup semi-finals. It is possible that Araujo will only be a substitute player – if needed, or even just to encourage his teammates.