AUBAMEYANG AT BARCELONA; STOOD TO THE OCCASION, PLAYED EXCEPTIONALY WELL AS HE GETS A BRACE IN HIS FIRST EL CLASICO THIS WEEKEND.
Months after his Arsenal exit, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is doing his talking, both on and off the field after his brace in El Clasico during Barcelona’s 4-0 win over Real Madrid on Sunday at the Bernabeu.
In his first-ever El Clasico, Aubameyang, who only back in December was getting stripped of the Arsenal captaincy, was writing his name into the legendary books of Barcelona.
The 32-year-old shocked the Bernabeu crowd by putting Xavi’s side ahead after half an hour, before Ronald Araujo, in his new role, ex-Man City man Ferran Torres, and Aubameyang again, ended a run of five straight wins for Real Madrid in this fixture.
Whilst Arsenal have progressed even further since Aubamayang’s departure, the Gabon star’s performances and qualities were put into question when he left.
But the so-called ‘finished player’ issued this interesting response to critics after yesterday’s win.
It probably hasn’t happened too often, but this could just be a case of a win-win situation for someone like Mikel Arteta and Aubameyang himself.
Arsenal have steamrolled into that fourth spot in recent weeks and it seems as though Arteta’s call to part ways with such a key player is proving to be another ruthless, yet correct call from the Spaniard.
Given that Arteta grew up as a Barcelona fan, including coming through their academy, he would have no doubt enjoyed yesterday’s performance and win.
Real Madrid should still, baring an unbelievable collapse, see the title home because they are nine points clear of Sevilla and 12 clear of Barcelona – who have a game in hand.
But that doesn’t mean that Xavi and his players aren’t surging forward once more because they look a different animal to the one that was getting embarrassed on a weekly basis under Ronald Koeman.
And if Aubameyang can play his part in getting Barca back to the top, then his reputation will only sky-rocket in Catalonia.
