Not many big teams depend heavily on a particular player to bring out positive results. You will see more of team performance than any individual brilliance nowadays. But there are some exceptional cases just like Lionel Messi in FC Barcelona or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in Arsenal.
Both of them have been the apple of everyone’s eye in their respective club for their consistent performance. Their supremacy literally made their club bound to depend on them heavily. But who is the real one-man army among them? Lionel Messi or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Why not giving you some reality check?
Legacy of Lionel Messi in Barcelona
Lionel Messi, a man in the disguise of a superhero who has been saving his team for the last couple of years. What a glorious team FC Barcelona had once! Not many years ago, they had a remarkable team full of legends. When someone performs in such a team and still grabs all limelight to him, you have to understand he is doing something extraordinary. Yes, I am talking about Lionel Messi.
That Barcelona team had players like Carlos Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto, Villa and the list goes on. But Messi became everyone’s favorite through his astonishing achievements.
Now, look at the current Barcelona team. Gerard Pique is aging, there is no creativity in the Barca mid. Messi lost one of his reliable partners Neymar way back in 2017. His other partner Luis Suarez’s prime time is already over.
Lionel Messi accolades in 2019-20 season
When you take a look at Barcelona’s last season’s overall performance, you get the idea. Even at 33, Messi touched the record of Thierry Henry making 20 assists and netting 20 goals in a single season.
With 21 assists, he also surpassed his former teammate Xavi’s 20 assists record in a single La Liga season.
When there was nobody to step up alongside him, he won the Pichichi trophy for the seventh time with 25 goals.
Leo Messi finishes as top scorer in La Liga for a record SEVENTH season
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 19, 2020
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Even in a season, when Barcelona struggled consistently to perform, Messi bagged the La Liga player of the month award seven times.
But when someone consistently performs for his team but still ends up giving away the League trophy, that is painful indeed.
Messi is in the team like a lone fighter without any worthy fellow warriors.
This is difficult for him to continue in a club that has given him so many things since his childhood. But when your back dash against the wall, you have no option left rather than protesting or leaving for your own betterment. That’s why now it is a matter of time the Argentine departs as he already told the board he wants to leave FC Barcelona.
Resurgence of Arsenal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one of a kind in the Arsenal team. When their legendary coach Arsene Wenger signed the Gabonese from Borussia Dortmund, nobody understood his significance way back then.
Now the current Arsenal team is simply unimaginable without him. Days after days, the Arsenal board couldn’t provide the coaches to splash the cash to buy quality players. That was apparent in Arsenal’s performance on a regular basis.
Aubameyang – The goal-scoring machine for Arsenal
But Aubameyang had been on a lethal goal-scoring form since his arrival at the London club. He is the quickest player in Arsenal’s history to score 50 goals in 79 appearances only.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joins Thierry Henry as the only Arsenal players to score 20+ goals in consecutive Premier League seasons ? pic.twitter.com/eUjO9uubJX
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 7, 2020
In his 3 years Arsenal career, Gabon International scored 54 goals with 12 assists in 85 matches in total in Premier League. In his second season, he was a joint Golden boot winner with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane for netting 22 goals.
This season, he scored a similar amount of goals but just lost it to Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy with a single goal difference.
But even after his breakthrough performance in these years, Arsenal found it challenging to compete with other English clubs.
For the first time in 20 years, they finished the Premier League with the worst ever standing (8th).
Even at that critical stage, Aubameyang didn’t hold back to save them from miseries.
When the Gunners failed to qualify for both Champions League and Europa League, their only option was to win the FA Cup.
And, guess what? They won it in style.
Despite facing mighty Manchester City who are pretty burly for the Qatari ownership, Arsenal snatched the victory by beating them. Credit goes to Aubameyang’s brace.
Then again in the final, he made another brace and helped his team to lift up the FA Cup defeating Chelsea.
But his contribution still doesn’t end here. A month after in the Community Shield final, he again arrived as the rescuer. He scored the only goal for the Gunners and also dispatched the winning penalty to win the 2nd trophy of the season.
Arsenal’s to-do list to keep Aubameyang happy
These efforts of Aubameyang prove what a class act he has been for Arsenal. He is a reliable attacker who is ready to perform in any situation. How can Arsenal let him go for a better opportunity? They have already offered him a better contract for three years duration.
But alongside that, they shouldn’t forget to make some reinforcement to bring out the best of him. Yes, he is scoring goals, making assists, encouraging others to boost their performance. But you also have to give him quality players on the field to create more flexibility for him, right?
With two trophy triumphs, the fans can hope some good signings will take place that will uplift the team’s quality and also help Aubameyang to outperform his previous achievements in the red-white jersey.
Wenger would certainly repent now seeing Arteta earning glory why he didn’t bring him at the Emirates earlier.
Football is a team game. You can’t expect an extraordinary player to bring out something out of the world day to day without sufficient resources or quality backings. That goes for both of them as well. Give them quality players and they will bring more success to your team.
So who is the real one-man army in your eyes? Lionel Messi or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Share your opinions from your perspective.
