Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang explains reason behind Black Panther celebration

Aubameyang loves a celebration with a mask

Back in his Saint Etienne and Borussia Dortmund days, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang used to love celebrating his goals by placing a Spider-Man mask over his face. Despite scoring tonnes of goals since joining Arsenal, though, he hasn't donned the mask in the Premier League. As such it was a bit of a surprise to see the Gabonese striker go looking for a bag behind the Emirates Stadium's advertising hoardings upon scoring his second goal against Rennes in the Europa League on Wednesday night. He had clearly placed it there, and upon picking it up he gestured 'come over here' to his teammates, who were eager to celebrate with him. He then pulled out the Black Panther mask from the bag, placed it over his head and neck and did the 'Wakanda Forever' sign with his arms. Anyone who has seen the film or has lived on earth over the past 18 months will have recognised it, but what many people didn't know was why he did it now. Why not do it in 2018 when it came out? Well, Aubameyang explained after the game, which saw Arsenal progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, that he donned the mask because of his national team. Speaking to BT Sport, the striker said: "I needed a mask which represents me and that's the Black Panther. In Gabon we call the national team the Panthers!" So there you have it. He didn't miss it in the cinema and only recently catch it on DVD, he did for an actual reason. Case closed. https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1106307815948410881