Ronald Araujo made a hand gesture after he was shown a red card in Barcelona’s 1-4 second-leg defeat in their quarter-final tie against Paris Saint Germain.
Araujo was booked in the 29th minute, after tripping PSG attacker Bradley Barcola, who was running toward the box.
The dismissal of Ronald Araujo proved to be a turning point in the tie, as Barcelona capitulated subsequently.
Xavi Hernandez’s side were initially leading 1-0 on the night after Raphinha had put them ahead in the 12th minute.
However, a flurry of goals from Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha, and a brace from Kylian Mbappe resulted in Barcelona being bundled out of the UEFA Champions League.
Before the goals from Paris Saint Germain, Barcelona were leading 4-2 on aggregate, but at the end of the day, the tie turned on its head, with Luis Enrique’s side coming out victorious 4-6 on aggregate.
Ronald Araujo was furious after he was shown a red, and he protested alongside his teammates in the face of referee Istvan Kovacs.
Kovacs was defiant to their argument, with a VAR review also corroborating the referee’s decision.
Ronald Araujo performed a hand gesture as he exited the pitch, splaying his hands and twisting his hand, and viewers across the world wondered what it meant.
What does Ronald Araujo’s hand gesture mean?
Thankfully, football fans accustomed to the South American football culture have revealed the meaning of his actions.
A football enthusiast on Reddit wrote: “It’s the South American hand gesture for stealing.”
Araujo hails from Uruguay, and it appears that is a gesture popular in the South American nation.
Another fan wrote: “I’d say it’s also understandable in Spain, if not for the comments here I’d have thought it was universal.”
The universal notion amongst commenters was that Ronald Araujo thought he had been robbed, with fans in Portugal and Italy also sharing that they were familiar with the gesture.
Meanwhile, Araujo was not the only individual connected with Barcelona who was sent off on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, as Xavi Hernandez was also booked for his conduct in the technical area.
Anyway, Paris Saint Germain will feel they have got their pound of flesh, years after succumbing to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 in 2017.
PSG had a first-leg 4-0 lead over Barcelona at the Parc Des Princes, however, they were smashed 6-1 at Camp Nou, and that saw them crash out of the competition in one of the greatest comebacks wins in history.
Anyway, Ronald Araujo has made 146 appearances for Barcelona, scoring 8 goals and providing 3 assists since joining the club from Uruguayan club Boston River on August 29, 2018, for a fee of €4.7 million.
Cumulatively, he has made 238 club career appearances thus far, scoring 21 goals and providing 8 assists.
Internationally, Araujo has made 16 appearances for Uruguay, scoring 1 goal and providing 1 assist.
