Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Could Be In Trouble For Mask Celebration

Borussia Dortmund may count themselves lucky to have a striker of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's calibre firing on all cylinders for them, but BVB's hierarchy are not happy with their Gabonese striker after his celebration over the weekend.

The former St. Etienne man has become synonymous with masked goal celebrations, having donned Batman and Spiderman masks in the past after scoring goals.

However, the latest superhero to get the Aubameyang treatment was a relatively unknown caped crusader by the name of 'The Masked Finisher'.

Aubameyang

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Gabon's finest goal scoring export. Not really as catchy, is it? Image: PA

Now, while 'The Masked Finisher' may sound like a discontinued brand of '70s condoms, it turns out he is in fact the latest advertising strategy by Nike.

After Aubameyang found the back of the net during Saturday's derby with Schalke, he donned 'The Finisher's' mask, but all was not well with upper management.

Club CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has since lashed out at Nike for pushing the stunt onto one of their sponsored players, especially since Dortmund are sponsored by rival sportswear giants, Puma.

Speaking to Bild, Watzke said, "This behaviour is unworthy of a big corporation.

"It can't be that we have to force through the economic interest of Nike in this way. Our partner is Puma."

Aubameyang

Aubameyang

The Gabonese striker has a history of masking up, although it's never caused this much controversy, before. Images: PA

Puma, meanwhile, were similarly unimpressed with Nike's actions, given that the German brand are also a shareholder in the Bundesliga club, with a statement saying, "We are surprised that a competitor puts a player in such a situation."

Aubameyang was booked for his celebration and is subsequently set to receive a €50,000 fine from his club.

The 1-1 draw with Schalke at the weekend has left Dortmund in fourth place in the Bundesliga table, 18 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.

(H/T Dream Team FC)

Topics: Football, Borussia Dortmund, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Nike

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

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