Five years after shaking defenses together at Borussia Dortmund, the Ousmane Dembélé-Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang duo returns to Germany with Barcelona on Thursday to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarterfinals.
In Germany, the memory of this pairing is still alive: in 2016-2017, ‘Dembouz’ scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists, and ‘Aubam’ converted 40 goals and provided 5 assists. Borussia did not win anything, but all of Europe feared to the BVB attack.
Five years later, the two friends, reunited in Barcelona since January, return to German lands to face Eintracht, recent executioner in the round of 16 of the Betis Europa League and which has accumulated three consecutive draws.
Dembélé, from whistled to applauded
After some difficult first steps in Catalonia, where the most expensive signing in the history of Barcelona (140 million euros/152.7 million dollars, including variables) saw his performance hampered by injuries, this season seems to be the right one for the french end.
Despite the winter signings from England (Aubameyang, Ferran Torres and, above all, Adama Traoré) who added competition in attack, Dembélé is still essential for Xavi, despite their clash at the beginning of the year.
In the middle of the January market, the Barça coach asked Dembélé to renew or leave Barça, but ‘Dembouz’ stayed and chained the assists: after being absent the entire start of the season due to injury, he has already accumulated ten decisive passes in the League, where he is the second best passer behind Karim Benzema (11), who has played twice as many games as him (26 vs. 13).
Called in every game since January, Dembélé ended up being widely applauded in the League match against Sevilla on Sunday (1-0 victory). He even went to train on his day off and his future could continue to have a Barça color.
According to the press, the leaders of the Catalan club met on Monday in Marrakech with the player’s agent, Moussa Sissoko. Barça maintains its renewal offer with a lower salary, but according to the Catalan media, the player could have changed his mind and would now like to continue his career at Barça.
Aubameyang, express integration
The arrival of his great friend Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang in January is not unrelated to this change in situation.
The ex-Arsenal, arrived free, is already in the race to make history. With nine goals in his first twelve games with Barça, he is one of the players who have made the best debut for the Barça club.
And with 24 goals in the Europa League, the Gabonese is close to becoming the best scorer in the history of the competition (not counting the former UEFA Cup), behind the Basque Aritz Aduriz (26 goals) and the Colombian Radamel Falcao (30 goals).
Decisive in the classic against Real Madrid, won 4-0 at the Bernabéu at the end of March and nominated for best player in the League in March, Aubameyang has seduced Barça fans in just three months.
With ‘Aubam’ and ‘Dembouz’, Barça, in the middle of a comeback operation in LaLiga (2nd to twelve points behind Real Madrid, when they were ninth when Xavi arrived in November), can expect to go all the way in the Europa League and win at least one trophy this season.
But first they will have to get the quarter-final tie at Eintracht on track before next week’s second leg in Barcelona.
