Todibo and Araujo debut at the Camp Nou
It was a day of defensive firsts at the Camp Nou on Sunday. With Clément Lenglet banned from playing against Sevilla after being handed a red card against Getafe, and Samuel Umtiti still injured, Jean-Clair Todibo partnered Gerard Piqué in central defence with Barça B's Ronald Araujo replacing the young Frenchman in the second half.
Todibo had played three league matches for Barça before Sunday's fixture, but all had been away games. He'd played at the Camp Nou in the summer, but that was in the Joan Gamper Trophy, and therefore not in official competition. Against Sevilla, the 19-year-old played for 73 minutes and completed 46 of his 48 attempted passes, recovering the ball on three occasions. In total, he touched the ball 58 times and only committed one foul.
Araujo's bitter debut
Ronald Araujo came on for Todibo, making not only his Camp Nou debut, but also his bow with the first team. The Uruguayan joined Barça B in the summer of 2018 and is one of García Pimienta's captains.
Even so, Araujo didn't enjoy a dream start after being sent off in the 87th minute for a foul on Chicharito Hernández. The 14th La Masia debutant of the Valverde era therefore only managed to play for 14 minutes on the pitch. He joins José Arnáiz, Marc Cucurella, Oriol Busquets, David Costas, Jorge Cuenca, Juan Miranda, Chumi, Riqui Puig, Moussa Wague, Álex Collado, Abel Ruiz, Carles Pérez and Ansu Fati as players to have been given a taste of life in the first team by the Basque coach.
Central defensive issues for the visit to Ipurua
Barça now have several casualties in defence ahead of the next league game. After the international break, the culers will face Eibar without Gerard Piqué who picked up a 5th yellow card against Sevilla. Araujo is also banned and with Umtiti unable to play, only Lenglet and Todibo are fit to travel to Ipurua.