Interview

Aubameyang - I needed a mask that represented me

Aubameyang celebates with his Black Panther mask after scoring against Rennes
Aubameyang celebates with his Black Panther mask after scoring against Rennes

Emirates Stadium witnessed perhaps its most unique celebration yet on Thursday, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put on a mask from the film ‘Black Panther’ after scoring his second goal against Rennes.

Auba’s strike gave us breathing space as we progressed to the Europa League quarter-final - and after the game, he explained why he produced the mask.

on the mask…

I needed a mask which represents me. It’s the Black Panther and in Africa, in Gabon, we call the national team the Black Panthers of Gabon. It represents me so that’s it.

on being a bit nervous…

Yeah a bit. I missed two chances to close the game but the most important thing is that we won tonight and that we are happy.

on not getting a hat-trick…

Yeah I missed a few tonight. But I’m really happy for Ainsley tonight because Arsenal has to be proud of having young players like this coming through their youth teams, coming here and then playing so well. We are all so happy.

on the physicality…

They were a bit nervous and a bit angry, but that’s football. Sometimes that happens.