Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also knows how to defend.
In a long interview given to The Athletic, the striker looked back on the highlights of his career. Among these most notable episodes, the Gabonese international remembers the attack he suffered with his family in August 2022, in Barcelona.
Several men had broken into his house, forcing Aubame to confront them with a bottle of water in his hand, before he was beaten with gloves containing metal. He then found himself with a broken jaw and several valuable objects stolen. « One of them had a weapon and said to me: “Just get on the ground.” I said: “No, no, no. Tell me what you want,” he says. We talked and he told me: “Sit down.” I said: “Non.” That’s when they started hitting me. »
Nights spent without sleep
This aggression affected the player’s family life and career. Her children could no longer sleep alone or go to school. He could no longer sleep, which had consequences on his performance: « I’ve had so many nights like that: you don’t sleep at all, you just think about this shit. You have nightmares. I’m a guy, if I don’t sleep well, I won’t give what you expect of me, I won’t be at my best. »
Finally, the top scorer of the last edition of the Europa League regrets not having spoken to a « therapist or psychologist ». Enough to highlight, once again, the importance of mental health in the world of football, even more so after a traumatic episode like this. « To be honest, I was lost », admits the attacker.
Which did not prevent him from signing for Marseille a year later, fortunately.
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