Four-goal Aubameyang redeemed for Milan trip

Berlin (AFP) – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang earned redemption for a trip to Milan in a private jet with four goals in Borussia Dortmund’s 5-2 drubbing of Hamburg on Saturday to get back onside with coach Thomas Tuchel. 

Dortmund boss Tuchel threw Aubameyang out of the squad for Wednesday’s Champions League win over Sporting Lisbon after the Gabon striker’s Italian jaunt with friends on Monday.

But after serving his one-match suspension, Aubameyang needed just 27 minutes at bottom side Hamburg to score a first-half hat-trick as Dortmund broke their four-game winless streak to go fifth in the Bundesliga table.

He netted a fourth after the break, but had ran straight to Tuchel on the sidelines, with smiles all round, after scoring his first goal with just four minutes gone in Hamburg.

“It was a nice gesture which really pleased me,” Tuchel told Sky following his sideline hug with Aubameyang.

But the Dortmund boss only answered “nice try” when asked what he had said to his striker during the hug when the pair exchanged words.

The disciplinary move seemed to have done wonders for Aubameyang, who now has 11 goals in his nine league games to make him the league’s joint top scorer alongside Cologne’s Anthony Modeste.

“I have seen that I made a mistake with my trip to Milan and I wanted to apologise to the team and especially to the coach,” Aubameyang told Sky.

“I needed to render my services to the whole team and the coach, who I get on very well with.”

Tuchel was more open about the disciplinary incident in Friday’s pre-match press conference.

“There had been something going on during the preparation for the (Sporting) match, which we punished and so it is checked off,” said Tuchel.

“We did not love taking this measure, but there was no alternative in our view.

“The basic trust has not been shattered and it was all forgotten by the final whistle of the Lisbon game.”