Aubameyang is a bit like Ronaldo: Watzke

Borussia Dortmund CEO believes Gabon striker enjoys being in spotlight

BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang enjoys the limelight just as much as football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, according to his club's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

"He's the sort of player who enjoys being in the spotlight a bit. There are players like that. He's a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo, but 'Auba' can handle it," Watzke told German daily Bild.

The Gabon hot-shot put a crazy six days behind him by scoring four goals in Saturday's 5-2 drubbing of Hamburg away which broke the club's four-match winless streak in Germany's top flight.

His goal-haul came after coach Thomas Tuchel threw him out of Dortmund's squad for Wednesday's Champions League win over Sporting Lisbon for flying with his friends to Milan on a private jet last Monday for a shopping trip.

Having apologised to his team-mates and coach for his unauthorised jaunt, Aubameyang redeemed himself in Hamburg and his 11 league goals makes him the Bundesliga's joint top scorer this season.

"The reaction from 'Auba' was awesome, but was also to have been expected," said Watzke. "We noticed that [his remorse] straight away during our conversations."

The rout of Hamburg left Dortmund fifth in the table and set the club up for their next Bundesliga game at home to leaders Bayern Munich a week on Saturday following the international break.

"It's a good opportunity for us to get back [up the table]," said Watzke as Dortmund lag six points behind Bayern in the league table. "We have to make sure we are ready for this game."

But Watzke ruled out any repeat of the Milan trip for Aubameyang, even if it did yield four goals in his next game.

"No, he's flying to play for his national team and his action is not intended to be repeated," said Watzke dryly with Gabon to face Mali away in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Saturda