Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Set To Renew Odd Rivalry With Move To Barcelona

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's move to Barcelona will allow the former Arsenal striker to renew a strange rivalry with Toni Kroos.

Aubameyang's move to Barca was a bit of a rollercoaster ride on Monday, as transfer deadline day came and went without him actually getting his transfer from Arsenal.

The striker is still expected to get a free transfer to Xavi's team, with the Gunners' allowing the 32-year-old to leave for nothing due to the disciplinary reasons that have seen him out of the team since the start of December.

Moving to Barcelona will mean that he will come up against Real Madrid, with next Clasico set for March 20th in La Liga, and that will likely see him coming up against Kroos.

On the surface there's no reason for Aubameyang and Kroos to have any sort of rivalry, but the German midfielder has made it clear before he's no huge fan of the striker.

On several occasions, Aubameyang has pulled masks out of his sock whilst playing, putting them on to celebrate goals. He has adorned Spiderman, Black Panther and Batman masks.

That clearly hasn't gone down well with Kroos, with the Real boss saying, "Aubameyang once celebrated and took out a mask. That's where it ends with me. I don't think that's a good role model, either. What nonsense.

"What I always found sweet was Gerd Muller. He just jumped up, pulled up his pants. That was real joy, nothing big."

Those comments started Twitter beef between the pair, as the former Borussia Dortmund striker asked if Kroos had children, because he'd done the celebration for his son.

The whole argument even led to Kroos' national teammate Mesut Ozil, who at the time was playing for Arsenal, to get involved in the situation.

The midfielder tweeted a gif of Aubameyang celebrating in a Black Panther mask, in support of his then club teammate.

Barca will be hoping that their new striker gets the chance to mock Kroos with a mask celebration in March, having lost the previous Clasico.

That came in the Spanish Supercopa last month, with the Catalan giants getting mocked for titling their highlights as 'Pride in Defeat.'

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Toni Kroos, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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