Ronald Araujo has gone through a very difficult time this season. So much so that he had to stop and ask for help. The Barcelona defender, who was out of action for more than a month due to mental health problems, recalled how he experienced this period in an interview on 'Universo Valdano' on Movistar.

"I knew there was something that wasn't right, that it wasn't working, because you start to feel a little bit more depressed and then football-wise you don't feel like you really know what you can do, what you can give as a player. So, things don't work there," Araujo begins.

I knew that something was wrong, that it wasn't working, because you start to feel a little more depressed

Araujo

"You also come home with all the stress as well, at home I'm not the same, a person, at least as I was at home, that I'm very familiar, very much to show affection to my wife, to my daughters, but I had kind of lost a little bit of that, a barrier and I knew that something was not right, but one by inertia tries to continue, also perhaps by culture, for example, we are country people and there it is difficult to show much feelings and it costs you, there are those barriers to say, there is something that is happening, I need to work on it, I need to raise my hand and ask for help," he continues.

One tries to carry on, perhaps also because of culture. We are country people and it is difficult to show feelings there

Araujo

In the end, Araujo decided to stop for a while, rest, take care of himself and return to the field stronger to face the final stretch of the campaign with Barcelona: "It was very difficult for me to recognize that I needed to work on it, that I needed to seek help from a professional and one continues, one continues, continues, continues, but there is a moment that I said: 'That's it'. It was the moment of the action with Chelsea, which was not that action specifically, it was a lot of things, but that was the moment... It is obvious that throwing yourself there after having a yellow card was crazy and then I said: 'Something is happening to me'. I got to the dressing room right away and said: 'No, no, here I have to ask for help'. I spoke to my wife first and said: 'Look, it's obvious that something is happening to me, I need to ask for help'."

The Uruguayan goalkeeper overcame his problems, although it was not easy: "These last few times have not been easy, but I have learned a lot. I have grown in maturity, there were things I needed to learn".

His beginnings at Barcelona

Araujo also looks back in 'Universo Valdano' at his arrival in Barcelona and the initial difficulties he had in changing his style of play. "It was difficult for me. When we played a small-sided game, with 22 players in there, the ball comes to you three or four times, you throw it out every time and you say: 'Oh, oh, oh'", he says with a smile.

He was grateful for the help of two players, also South Americans and established stars, who were indispensable in his adaptation: Luis Suarez and Leo Messi. "Luis was key. He made me one of the team, he was always protecting me. Leo too, because they were always together and they involved me as one of the team," he said.