Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti visited the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal play Chelsea on Saturday, appearing in photographs of the game on Instagram.
Umtiti has become a key part of Barcelona’s team in the last couple of seasons, but he’s currently sidelined by a knee injury. As a result, he took the opportunity to visit London and watch Arsenal in their Premier League derby match against Chelsea.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s half-brother, Catilina, posted a picture on Instagram alongside the centre-back:
Image: Barcelona & France defender Samuel Umtiti in attendance at the Emirates Stadium for last night’s 2-0 win over Chelsea. [IG story: cati.aubameyang] #afc pic.twitter.com/zthyIo5kz2
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) January 20, 2019
The main reason for Umtiti’s attendance was probably all of the French players involved in the match. Matteo Guendouzi, Laurent Koscielny, N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud all took part.
Most relevantly, the 25-year-old spent a number of years playing with Alexandre Lacazette at Lyon. The two clearly remain close, so Umtiti would’ve been glad to see his friend scoring what turned out to be the winning goal.
Arsenal fans will be excited to see such a talented centre-back watching on at the Emirates Stadium, given the Gunners’ defensive issues at the moment. However, Umtiti has a contract until 2023 and he’s a key part of the Barcelona team, when fit. Unfortunately, a transfer doesn’t look very likely in the near future.