Gary Lineker has delivered his verdict on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s sweet strike against Valencia in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final.
Arsenal went behind at the Mestalla Stadium when Kevin Gameiro opened the scoring but Aubameyang made sure that wasn’t the case for long when, after a flick on from Alexander Lacazette, he struck a half-volley into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Amongst those to praise the finish was former Tottenham forward Lineker who wrote on his personal Twitter account: “Au-banger-yang! Vital and brilliant goal”.
Au-banger-yang! Vital and brilliant goal for @Arsenal
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 9, 2019
The away goal put Arsenal firmly in control of their tie after they won the first leg 3-1 at the Emirates.
OPINION
The goal was very much unlike the usual Arsenal we are used to seeing. The usual free flowing football was not their to see after a tentative start saw them concede an early goal. It was very much a polar opposite to the excellent goal that Lacazette scored in the first leg in the fact it came from a long ball from Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal. Compare this to the previously mentioned goal which involved passes from Mesut Ozil and Aubameyang after breaking from the half way line to square it to the unmarked French striker and that is where the surprise comes from. After Lacazette won a flick on, it was all about Aubameyang, after a couple of touches he unleashed an unstoppable effort which put his side into the driving seat for a Europa League final, something his manager, Unai Emery knows too much about from his decorated past in the competition.