On the other hand, “AS” had a compliment for FC Barcelona. Coach Xavi’s team have met Real’s “danced”, wrote the newspaper. And the lead dancer, to stay with this metaphor, was a man who no longer really seemed capable of such a role.
Aubameyang hits and hits and hits
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 32, also scored for Barca against Real Madrid, scoring twice. Just like he always scores since he has been playing for Barcelona. In seven league games, Aubameyang has scored seven goals, it’s an impressive rate. It wasn’t exactly expected.
When Aubameyang made the switch from Arsenal FC to FC Barcelona just before the end of the winter transfer window, it was a rather unpleasant few weeks behind him. In the season he served as captain of the “Gunners“, but apparently he wasn’t always a role model. In any case, in mid-December, the coach suspended Mikel Arteta Aubameyang, and the captain was someone else from then on.
Shortly thereafter, that was history with Aubameyang and Arsenal FC.
Aubameyang at Barca: ‘A godsend’
The picture they got of their new signing at FC Barcelona is very different. Coach Xavi recently said Aubameyang is a role model for other players and a privilege to work with. Xavi said: “Aubameyang is a godsend.”
Aubameyang actually played almost unearthly against Real Madrid. His second goal, a soulful lob over goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois away, one will not soon forget. His assist with the heel for Ferran Torres before the 3-0 was a special moment.
It is also due to the work of Aubameyang that Barcelona are actually playing like Barcelona again. Just like a modern variant: Barca still has the ball very often, but now there is also speed, sometimes it is played vertically.
Aubameyang shapes Barca’s present
“It was Barcelona as you imagine it after Messi”, wrote the newspaper Marca after the fifth league victory in a row. They could hardly have paid coach Xavi a bigger compliment. Just before the game, he had flirted with a return of the club legend. Messi, said Xavi, is him “best players in history”he would of course not close his eyes to a return as a coach.
They’re musings that they’ll follow with some goodwill in Barcelona. But right now Messi is a Paris Saint-Germain player, at the moment others are making headlines in Barcelona. Like Aubameyang.
Source: tbe/sid/dpa