"A shame" - Barcelona star Ronald Araujo delivers his verdict on Europa League exit to Eintracht Frankfurt

Barcelona star Ronald Araujo has slammed his team's Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt as a "shame".

The Catalans lost 3-2 against the Bundesliga side at Nou Camp, and were knocked out 4-3 on aggregate from the quarterfinals of the competition.

Frankfurt were up 3-0 by the 67th minute, courtesy of goals from Filip Kostic (2) and Rafael Maury. Xavi's men pulled two goals back in stoppage time but could not find that all important equaliser on the night.

FRANKFURT HAVE DONE IT! BARCELONA ARE ELIMINATED FROM THE EUROPA LEAGUE 😱 https://t.co/Pc1Gnkk3Km

After the game, defender Araujo told Barca TV:

"It’s a shame to lose this match. I think we played a good game, despite the result. It’s a shame, we had 3 mistakes and they punished us with three goals."

The Catalans held a staggering 75% possession and completed almost thrice as many passes as their German opponents. However, Frankfurt were excellent in transition and raided the Barca defence, whenever given the opportunity with pace and precision.

Despite being the favorites to lift the Europa League, Barcelona will now have to ponder the exit from yet another competition.

Reports showed that there were as many as 30,000 away fans inside the stadium, as many Barcelona socios had given away their season ticket passes for the Europa League match.

Araujo expressed his surprise at the turnout, saying:

“I was surprised that there were so many Frankfurt fans here, in our stadium… The club will have to see what happened.”

The Bundesliga side will take on West Ham United in the semifinals.

Barcelona staring at a trophyless campaign

The Catalans are enjoying a mini renaissance under Xavi but the defeat to Frankfurt will hurt them. It is their fourth exit from a cup competition this season and with Barcelona trailing Real Madrid by 12 points in the league, it could turn out to be a trophyless season for the Catalans.

Barcelona wave goodbye to another trophy 👋 https://t.co/7TaLuQaAUR

Regardless, Barca fans must look to the future and not rush Xavi's groundwork at the club. He has taken them from seventh to second since taking over at Nou Camp.

More importantly, his signings are firing in most matches and the Spaniard is implementing a good style of football at Nou Camp.