Aubameyang's German chapter is not just about football

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Dortmund

In the crime thriller “Trance” – a film by “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a cameo of the unflattering kind. One of the film’s protagonists, a French gangster called Franck, can be seen watching the Ligue 1 game between Olympique Lyonnaise and St. Etienne from the 2011/12 season, and specifically a scene where the Gabon international scuffs his shot in a one-on-one with keeper Hugo Lloris (now at Tottenham). To make matters worse, the same incident is then shown two more times in the film.

On August 3rd of this year, that sense of déjà vu continued at SV Wilhelmshaven’s Jadestadion. Aubameyang was wearing the yellow and black Borussia Dortmund shirt this time, but his finishing against the fourth division side was criminally bad again, just like in the movie.

The ugly nickname “Chancentod” – the death of goal-scoring chances – was beginning to do the rounds after his less than impressive debut in a competitive game for last season’s Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up.

Former Schalke 04 and Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder called the new signing “Odonkor 2.0” a week later on German television, in reference to his ex-Germany team-mate David Odonkor – a player that was quick as lightening but notoriously lacked composure in front of goal and anywhere else on the pitch.

But after the final whistle at the SGL-Arena, Metzelder was made to eat his words. Aubameyang had scored a hat-trick in his first Bundesliga game, a 4-0 away win at Augsburg.

Only five players – Engelbert Kraus (1860 München, 1963/64), Hermann Ohlicher (VfB Stuttgart, 1973/74), Olaf Marschall (Dynamo Dresden, 1993/94), Adhemar (VfB Stuttgart, 2000/01) and Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt, 2007/08) had managed this feat before.

Cue jubilant headlines about “Dortmund’s shooting star” (WAZ) taking off “like a rocket” (Kicker) in Germany’s top-flight.

His team-mates weren’t just impressed with his efficiency in front of goal, however. A 67 per cent success rate in his tackling spoke of great defensive work too from the winger. “This was especially convincing (from him),” said midfielder Nuri Sahin. “I told him to stay cool before the match, that the goals would come”.

Aubameyang appeared a little shy in the ensuing series of TV interviews. “It’s a dream, an indescribable feeling,” he said before adding modestly that he needed to continue to “work hard” to deal with the Bundesliga’s “higher intensity”.

Only one eye-witness didn’t seem that impressed: Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp. “He’s your classic pacy player who basically just runs away from people at the moment”, he said coolly. “But that will be too predictable soon; you need to be more flexible. He needs to learn to be dangerous when there’s more to do than outrun the defender in a sprint”.

Part of that statement was undoubtedly designed to dampen the hype surrounding the new arrival, but Klopp meant it as well.