Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bernd Leno have admitted that they found extra motivation for Sunday’s game thanks to Jesse Lingard’s celebration in January.
Back in January, Manchester United beat Arsenal in the FA Cup, largely thanks to injuries to three of the Gunners’ back four and the inclusion of Petr Cech over Bernd Leno. Nonetheless, Lingard celebrated as if he’d just defeated peak Barcelona on his own, pulling out choreographed dance moves while the rest of his team celebrated together.
Afterwards, the 26-year-old posted a picture of his dance on Instagram, with the location tagged as ‘dancefloor’.
In this weekend’s Premier League clash, Leno and Aubameyang made themselves two of the heroes of the match with a clean sheet and a goal respectively. Meanwhile, Lingard presumably watched on at home waiting for a moment he could add to his Instagram story. The duo then explained they’d taken inspiration from their opponent’s antics.
“It was extra motivation,” Aubameyang said in Tuesday’s Daily Mail. “I had a celebration planned for this game, but couldn’t find my mask!”
“In your mind, you will never forget something like that, when somebody is celebrating,” Leno said. “You don’t want to see it again, so we were motivated.”
As a result, Manchester United have now dropped out of the top four, with games against Manchester City and Chelsea still to come. At least Lingard’s social media brand is a bit larger though!
