Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-1 win over Valencia, the first time he has scored in La Liga. The Gabonese international becomes the best African striker in the history of the five major European championships.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's season got off to a flying start at the weekend after a complicated end to the Arsenal chapter. The striker celebrated his first start for Barcelona with a goal and a tap-in, as they beat Valencia 4-1. It was already a great story for the Gabonese. But La Liga had decided to make his Sunday even more joyful. It also awarded him the shot of his teammate, Pedri, which Aubame touched and deflected with his back.
The double became a hat-trick for the "Panther" who had not scored since 22 October. This success at the Mestalla undoubtedly installs the former Dortmund player as Barça's number one centre-forward.
🔊 @Auba: "Mestalla is a bit like home. I had scored a hat-trick with Arsenal in the Europa League final here. I'm happy to have scored and to win. We have been playing well for a few games. We have an important game against Napoli on Thursday" #ValenciaBarça pic.twitter.com/QjVTnh3BQp
- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_eng) February 20, 2022
African top scorer
The good news does not stop there for the Gabonese. Aubameyang became the top African scorer in Europe in the top five major leagues (La Liga, Premier League, Ligue 1, Serie A, Bundesliga) on Sunday. With 210 goals, he surpasses Eto'o (209 goals) in the ranking thanks to his hat-trick. He also became the first African player in history to score in four of the five major European leagues of the 21st century.
And that's not all. The new Catalan serial killer, already awarded the title of top scorer in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, is now the first footballer of this century to score a hat-trick in each of the French, German, English and Spanish leagues.
So far, Aubameyang has been successful in all the major leagues except Serie A, where he failed to make an impact with Milan. La Liga could also work for him despite his age, at least for the rest of the season.
