Aubameyang equals Falcao as UEFA Europa League all-time top scorer

Being the top scorer in a competition is within the reach of the chosen few. Even more so if it is a continental tournament that has been played by some of the best strikers in the world. That is what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang achieved on Thursday with Olympique Marseille.

With his goal against Shakhtar Donetsk, the Gabon striker became the top scorer in the Europa League history with 30 goals, the same number as Radamel Falcao for the moment.

Aubameyang reached the 30-goal mark in his third best goalscoring campaign in the competition. The goal against the Ukrainian side took his tally in this season's Europa League to six, compared to eight for Borussia Dortmund in the 2015-16 campaign and eight for Arsenal in 2018-19. In fact, with six goals this term, he surpassed Munas Dabbur, with whom he was tied at the start of the campaign, and Aritz Aduriz, who is in third place with 26 goals.

 

February 16, 2024

Striker for the ages

Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang has scored his 30th goal in his 55th Europa League game, putting him just one shy of the competition's top 10 in terms of games played. With the exception of his first participation, with Lille in the 2009-10 season, the Gabonese has scored in all the editions he has played in.

Lille was his first team in European competitions. He went on to play in the Europa League with Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona and finally Olympique Marseille, his current club and with whom he has reached this record number.

Aubameyang's first goal in the second continental competition came in style on 22nd October 2015 against Gabala of Azerbaijan. On that cold night, the Gabonese scored a hat trick to give his team the win. It was the first of his three hat-tricks in the competition. Then came the one against Valencia with Arsenal and the one against Ajax with Olympique Marseille. This has meant that he has matched Falcao in number of hat tricks in the Europa League.

Ajax, against whom he has only played this season, is the opponent against whom Aubameyang has scored the most goals. Between the first leg and the second leg, the striker has scored five goals, one more than against Gabala and Valencia, the other teams he has scored a hat trick against.

Aubameyang divides his Europa League goals between Borussia Dortmund (8), Arsenal (14), Barcelona (2) and Olympique Marseille (6).