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Barcelona forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rose to the occasion in his first career La Liga start as he notched a hat-trick against Valencia in the 4-1 away win on matchday 25.
Aubameyang shined in the opening half of the contest, as Jordi Alba and Gavi assisted him for a pair of goals. The veteran forward was quite active over the course of the match in not only his off-ball movements inside the penalty box but also in his prowess to drop out of his designated center forward space upfront in Barca’s attack.
While Aubameyang finished the match with the belief that he recorded a double, La Liga officials later awarded the forward with a hat-trick since Pedri’s stout shot attempt in the second half deflected off of him.
All in all, Barca manager Xavi Hernandez is much satisfied with the overall showing from the Gabon international for not only his goals in the fixture but also for his work rate, which he touched on in his post-match press conference.
“He's scored goals his whole career,” Xavi said. “He's good in space. He's mature, intelligent, humble and positive. I'm delighted with him. The two goals will give him confidence.”
Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets also earned a start against Valencia. The Spanish international patrolled midfield play as the team’s main defensive midfielder and completed 63 passes to go along with seven ground duels won.
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As with Xavi, Busquets is much pleased with the outing from Aubameyang and sees that this could be just the beginning of what may end up being a keen second half of the season from him.
“He's working really well, he came here needing minutes but he is getting them now,” Busquets said.
“I hope he helps us like this because he is a great player and having him in the squad on a free transfer is a gift.”
Barcelona entered the match in up-and-down form, as it notched back-to-back draw results against Espanyol in La Liga play and against Napoli in the opening leg of their Europa League playoff tie. Aubameyang is much content that unlike this pair of matches, Barca was able to orchestrate an all-around promising performance to notch a pivotal win at this stage in the league campaign.
“I am very pleased and very happy but above all because we won the game,” Aubameyang said.
“I think we have played very well the last few games and the only thing missing was the result. Today we also played very well and we won. It's important for the group and now it's time to continue because we have an important match on Thursday.”
The attention for the Catalan side now shifts to its upcoming Europa League playoff second leg clash with Napoli. The Serie A side is currently set to meet Cagliari in league play on Monday before it goes on to host Barcelona for the return leg on Thursday.
Overall, all eyes will be on just which attacking trio that Xavi will go on to roll out for his expected 4-3-3 setup against Napoli later on in this week. For one, Aubameyang sure has made a notable case to earn a start in this upcoming matchup for not only his hat-trick performance against Valencia but also because he has had plenty of history in producing keen showings in this competition before.
