Wembley: Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was left red-faced after he dropped the FA Cup winners’ trophy amid celebrations after the Gunners defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the final on Saturday. The Gabonese international scored a first-half penalty and classy second-half chip to lead his side to glory.
Aubameyang has been one of the backbones for Arsenal this season although he needs more work in lifting the crowns as the striker dropped the cup in front of the 90,000 empty seats. The skipper’s misfortune began as he carried the famous trophy by the base rather than its handles, leading the silverware to slip and bounce to the turf while David Luiz and Alexandre Lacazette recoiled in second-hand embarrassment.
“He needs more experience with trophies. We can get him used to that,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. Aubameyang’s teammate Rob Holding said, “It seems to be the trend now to drop the trophy! I saw him walking up with the bottom attached, you take that bit off!”
Few Arsenal fans took to Twitter to sum up their feelings. “It’s our cup and we’ll smash it to pieces if we want to,” @MichaelKeshani wrote, summing up the Gunners fans’ feelings on their skipper’s howler. “Look at Aubameyang the poor bloke he doesn’t even know how to lift a trophy properly it’s been that long,” @vintageredss added.
“Still a better lift than Vermaelen’s,” @97tiIlinfinity said, referencing former Gunners captain Thomas Vermaelen’s own botched trophy-lift in 2014, when he hoisted the FA Cup so forcefully that the lid flew off.
