Aubameyang, to L’Equipe: “At Barcelona we trained well”

When the results don’t go the way you want, it’s easy to expose a long series of reasons without anyone daring to refute them or, at least, debate them. Provable or not, that always happens. The truth is that “Barça has not done its homework”, as coach Xavi Hernández admitted in his press conference before the last league match against Valencia and that is why the Barça team should feel the obligation to finish the course at its best. possible way, which in this case is to be runner-up in the League to ensure presence in the next Spanish Super Cup. There has been much speculation about the explanations that could justify a blank season in terms of titles. With his continuation confirmed next season on the culé bench, Xavi Hernández is in a footballer who once again put an unexpected ally in the showcase. An interview with L’Equipe and a personal anecdote about his arrival in Marseille led Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to an implicit defense of Xavi’s technical work.

At 34 years old, the Gabonese striker was asked how long since he trained “at this pace” to show again the great performance, the challenge given to him when signing for Olympique de Marseille, where he has 27 goals. in 46 games. Arriving at Marseille in the summer of 2023 after a miserable time at Chelsea, the coach at the time, Gennaro Gattuso, asked him the main question: “Gennaro looked at me and said: ‘How many years have passed since when you trained at this speed?’ “Well, in Barcelona we train well,” replied the Italian forward who, arriving from Arsenal at zero cost to Barcelona in the middle of the 2021-22 season, scored 13 goals in 24 games between February and June 2022 as a culé, which led to a sale to Chelsea that left 12 million net income for the needy coffers of the culé. It was at Stamford Bridge that he had to experience the other side of the coin: relegated, he scored only 3 goals before going to Marseille so that Gattuso could do something similar to him. “I can never thank him enough for the courage he gave me,” he recalled of the Italian coach.

Thanks to his goals, OM is in the semi-final of the Europa League. tournament where he is the top scorer of the current edition with 10 goals, and the best in the history of the tournament with a total of 34, leaving behind Henrik Larsson (31), Klass-Jan Huntelaar (30) and Radamel Falcao (30) .

Aubameyang feels competitive and that’s why he detailed the reasons for his refusal to move to Saudi football. “The proposal came. But I don’t want to end my career like this because of the player I’ve been, because of the career I’ve been, I can’t accept leaving with failure. I don’t want to regret tomorrow, no matter how big the check is,” he explained. .