Fans have come to the rescue to explain the meaning of Ronald Araujo’s hand gesture after he was sent off against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Barcelona defender was given a straight red card after he bowled over Bradley Barcola 29 minutes into the Champions League clash, with a free-kick awarded.
His sending-off triggered an insane twist of events as PSG crumbled. Barcelona had been 1-0 up on the night and 4-2 up on aggregate, a flurry of goals gave PSG a 6-4 aggregate lead.
Araujo was furious, protesting with his team-mates in the face of referee Istvan Kovacs, but he had bundled Barcola as he hared clean through on goal. A VAR check confirmed the decision.
He performed a hand gesture as he stalked off the pitch, splaying his fingers and twisting his hand, and viewers in England wondered what it meant.
Ronald Araujo performed this hand gesture after being sent off for Barcelona against PSG
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Fortunately, football fans purportedly familiar with South American culture have arrived on the scene to explain his action.
‘It’s the South American hand gesture for stealing,’ one wrote on Reddit. Araujo is Uruguayan.
‘I’d say it’s also understandable in Spain, if not for the comments here I’d have thought it was universal,’ another wrote.
The consensus among commenters was that Araujo thought he had been robbed, with fans in Portugal and Italy also explaining that they recognised the gesture.
Barcelona are no strangers to capitulations in Europe. They famously squandered a 3-0 advantage against Liverpool in 2019 in the semi-finals, losing 4-0 at Anfield.
