The Madrid-Barça charrúa classic: friendship, the two adolescences and the bracelets of Valverde and Araújo
On July 23, 2015, Fede Valverde (Montevideo, 1998) made his debut in Uruguayan professional football. It was in a preseason friendly between Peñarol, the team of his youth, and the Brazilian Cruzeiro, held at the Atilio Paiva Olivera stadium, a field located in the city of Rivera, in the north of Uruguay, just a few meters from the border with Brazil.
Peñarol ignites passions in half the country, sharing the support of fans with Nacional, and the match caught the attention of the local public, especially young soccer players in the area who wanted to see some of the future stars of the club up close. Above all the others, midfielder Fede Valverde, who a few months prior, in May, had signed a contract with Real Madrid. He had just turned 17 and would continue at Peñarol until he turned 18.
From one of the seats in the stands, Ronald Araújo (Rivera, 1999), who lived just a few meters from the stadium and had recently turned 16, watched Valverde’s professional debut in the 60th minute of the match. “Whenever a big team came to play in our department, we would go watch, we had the opportunity to see players. And I was in the stadium when Fede came in and made his debut,” the defender remembered. Today, they will meet again in a crucial rivalry match for the League. Madrid, elated after their victory in Manchester. Barça, deflated after their loss to PSG.
This connection between Valverde and Araújo reflects two very different realities in their football journeys. The Madrid player had the spotlight on him from the beginning, being a part of Uruguay’s youth teams since the age of 14, signing with Madrid at 16, making his debut with Peñarol at 17, flying to Spain at 18, going on loan to Deportivo, and making his debut with the Uruguayan senior team at 19, eventually establishing himself in the Madrid first team at 20…
Araújo, on the other hand, grew up playing for his hometown team. At the age of 9, he caught the attention of several scouts and even received offers from Danubio, a club in Montevideo, and Boca Juniors, but his family was not willing to let him go at such a young age. So he continued playing at home, where he witnessed Fede Valverde’s debut. Perhaps inspired by the luck of that other teenager, Araújo left Huracán de Rivera that same summer and moved to the big city, Montevideo, to sign with Rentistas, an up-and-coming team in Uruguayan football. Two years there helped him catch the attention of Boston River, also from the capital, and after twelve months with the club, he achieved his dream: Araújo signed with Barcelona in 2019, at the age of 20, and since then, nothing would be the same.
Today’s classic match is also the “charrúa” classic because it pits the two great pillars of Uruguayan football against each other. The defensive wall and the all-around midfielder, who, 9 years after that July afternoon in Rivera, have become key players for Real Madrid and Barcelona. Valverde will be one of the five captains for the white team next season and is already the captain of Uruguay, while Araújo already wears the armband for Barça, a true symbol of his importance on and off the field for his teams.
But the domestic rivalry doesn’t stop them from being “very good friends,” as sources close to both players explain. Despite his sporting success, Valverde comes from humble origins, and within the national team, his closest teammates are Araújo and Darwin Núñez.
The admiration is mutual. “Araújo fascinates me. I absolutely love him. Plus, he’s Uruguayan and a good friend of mine,” Valverde recently said. “It’s tough going up against Fede in the League, we all know the quality he possesses. And then having him on the national team is incredible because he’s an exceptional player. He lifts our level,” Araújo admitted last year. From Rivera to the Bernabéu.