Barcelona defender apologizes for abusive behavior in the Catalan derby

Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo has apologized for his "abusive behaviour" in the 2-2 away draw with city rivals Espanyol on Sunday in the 24th round of La Liga, saying the tension in the match caused the incident.

Araujo appeared to make an insulting gesture to Espanyol midfielder Nico Melamed as he left the field at the end of the match, which saw one player from each team sent off.

The footage showed Araujo, 22, who was on the bench after being substituted at half-time due to an injury, screaming at Melmed and pointing at him with his hand, hinting that Espanyol might be relegated to the second division after their promotion this season.

"I want to apologize to all the Espanyol team for the unfortunate gesture I made tonight," Araujo said on Twitter after the match. "Everything was the result of the tension that occurred during today's exciting derby. I consider myself a player who is respected by rival teams and fans and I am not proud of what happened." .

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said he did not witness the incident but apologized for Araujo's behaviour. "We have to respect the opponent, his fans and the referee. We always have to be respectful, but the tension can make that difficult sometimes," the Spanish newspaper "Marca" quoted Xavi as saying.

Barcelona is fourth with 39 points from 23 games, 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid, who played a game more.

Xavi's team hosts Napoli in the European League next Thursday.

IPL Auction 2022: Because of this, the franchise teams did not spend a lot of money on the Under-19 team players

IPL Auction 2022: Vicky Ostwal was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. Maharashtra all-rounder Rajvardhan is known for his yorker skills and will now get a chance to learn the tricks of the game with the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Bangalore:IPL Auction 2022:   The importance of 'timing' in cricket is very high and the Under-19 cricket team has taken a step in the right direction by winning the World Cup before the big IPL auction but will it cost the star players huge sums of money in the Indian Premier League auction? Got it? After two days of auction, it was found that the franchise took a lot of caution while bidding on the young talented players of Indian cricket. Proven 'uncapped' players like Avesh Khan, who haven't played international matches, received bids of up to Rs 10 crore, but some U-19 star players, including captain Yash Dhul, were also caught in the two-day auction in Bengaluru. Got the contract.

Dhul, who was part of the Delhi Capitals-run academy, was the top scorer of the Under-19 World Cup and was bought for Rs 50 lakh by the same franchise that had groomed him. All-rounder Raj Bawa was bought by his home team Punjab Kings for Rs 2 crore, while four-time champions Chennai Super Kings bid for Rs 1.5 crore for Rajvardhan Hengargekar with a base price of Rs 30 lakh.

Vicky Ostwal was bought by Delhi Capitals at his base price of Rs 20 lakh. Maharashtra all-rounder Rajvardhan is known for his yorker skills and will now get a chance to learn the tricks of the game with the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It seemed that the IPL team was cautious while bidding on the Under-19 players and they were not ready to bid heavily. Due to his all-round skills, Raj Bawa was the highest bidder among the India Under-19 team.

Mumbai Indians spent Rs 3 crore for South Africa's Under-19 star Dewald Brevis and he will get a chance to play alongside legends like India's limited overs captain Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard. Brevis, popularly known as 'Baby Abby', is touted as the future superstar of South Africa. In the recent past, players like Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill got lucrative IPL contracts from franchises soon after their good performances in the junior world but this time around, there was not much enthusiasm in bidding for U-19 players.

Prithvi was bought by Delhi in 2018 for Rs 1.20 crore. Since then he and Gill have made their debut for the senior team. Gill was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders while playing in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. He has also played some memorable innings for the senior team. While members of the U-19 World Cup 2018 like Prithvi and Gill have proven themselves at the senior level, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel and Riyan Parag are doing the same, but do not play regularly. Due to maturity, the players of the last Under-19 World Cup got a good bid, but the team did not play a big bet on the players of the current Under-19 champion team as they are still quite young.