Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has said he aims to be a big star like Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o after he led Gabon to beat Burkina Faso 2-0 in a 2015 AFCON Group A match in Bata.
Aubameyang set Azingo National on the path to victory when he scored after 18 minutes and he was also involved in the second goal netted by Malick Evouna in the second half after he initiated the attack from which Frederic Bulot delivered a cross from the right for the WAC Casablanca of Morocco striker to head home.
Aubameyang finished second behind Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure in the 2014 CAF African Player of the Year and he also made the final five nominees for the 2013 awards.
“I try to do the maximum so as to be a big star like Drogba and Eto’o,” said the Borussia Dortmund star moments after he inspired his country to go past one of the top teams at this tournament.
“In the warm-up (for the match), the fans cheered me. That is not pressure. It’s expectation for me as it motivates me and pushes me to shine.
“When people expect big things from you, you try to do big things.”
Three years ago, co-hosts Gabon crashed out of the quarterfinals of the competition after a penalty shootout against Mali with Aubameyang missing the decisive penalty that would have catapulted them to the semi-finals.
He said that penalty miss has made him to grow up and he hopes that should Gabon again reach the last eight and need to go through on penalties again, he will put his kick away.
“That miss helped me to grow up very quickly,” he said.
“But for this competition, we are starting from the scratch. It’s a new tournament and it has begun well for me with a goal.
“I hope we reach the quarterfinal again and if we got another penalty then, I will score it.”
He said the big difference between victory and defeat against Burkina Faso was that their final pass was good and they took their chances against a Burkina Faso side, who failed to do same.