Aubameyang on his ‘strong friendship’ with Lacazette

Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (L) celebrates with team mate Alexandre Lacazette

Wednesday Mar 13, 2019. 09:15

Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed that his friendship with Arsenal teammate Alexandre Lacazette is “really, really strong”.

The pair both put in outstanding performances for their club this past Sunday evening, helping them defeat Manchester United 2-0 in a crunch Premier League match at the Emirates.

Lacazette provided the assist for Granit Xhaka’s opening goal and won the second-half penalty which was converted by Aubameyang to complete the scoring.

‘Auba’ and ‘Laca’ have formed a great partnership on pitch (when they are both selected in the team by manager Unai Emery) as well as a keen friendship off it.

The Frenchman notably encouraged Aubameyang to take the penalty against the Red Devils, giving him the chance to atone for a recent spot kick miss against Tottenham Hotspur.

"This friendship is really, really strong," Aubameyang said. "Straight after he fell down, he looked for me and said, 'You shoot. You have to be focused and you shoot'.

"It's a great partnership and, of course, the coach decides who plays and whether we play together or not.

“And we have to accept that, that's normal. But I think we are both really focused on playing for the team and giving our best.

"We don't care about who is shooting the penalty, the most important thing is to score.

“After Laca got the penalty and looked at me, I felt good and I was ready to score because we are having a good period with the team and everybody said that I would score again."