Dream return for Ronald Araujo

The José Rico Pérez stadium was the venue for Ronald Araujo's return to footballing action and his impact could not have been quicker in arriving or more telling: the Uruguayan defender opened the scoring for Barça in the fourth minute of the game and then produced a tremendous goalline clearance not long after to prevent Intercity from equalising. The defender was replaced by Eric Garcia after 60 minutes of the Copa del Rey tie. 

Araujo's appearance came 103 days after he was injured playing in a friendly for Uruguay against Iran and some 98 days after surgery on his hamstring. 

Included in Uruguay's World Cup squad, Araujo ended up sitting out his country's matches before returning to Barcelona after they were knocked in the group stages. The defender made his eight appearance of the season for Barça in the win over Intercity. 

Araujo: "Happy to be back"

After the win Araujo gave his thoughts on his comeback: "I am happy to be back after so much hard work, I wanted to come back now." The Uruguayan revealed that he had agreed with coach Xavi Hernández to play at most 60 minutes of the game before looking ahead to Sunday's 'big, big' game against Atlético Madrid.