Interview: Aubameyang wishes to have race against Usain Bolt

Borussia Dortmund's most valuable player, Gabon rooted and French born Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (27) scored 67 goals in 107 games on top delivering 19 assists. Besides goal scoring, the striker fancies extravagant clothing and speedy cars.

In a recent Xinhua interview, Aubameyang revealed a secret and "crazy" wish: A race against the fastest man on the planet.

Xinhua: Mr. Aubameyang, you are known for sporting a very dazzling clothing style. Is it true you have been influenced in this mainly by your mother?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: (laughing) You seem to be very well informed. It is true, my mother used to have a shop in which she offered very colorful clothes. I liked that from my early days on.

Xinhua: Another thing about you is speed. Before we talk about you as a football player - how important is speed to you in your life?

Aubameyang: (laughing) Speed is a part of me. I think I was born with that, and nowadays a fast player, I need a fast car, too. I have a passion for fast cars. To drive them means pure joy to me.

Xinhua: What is that fascinating about it?

Aubameyang: The sound. When I arrive at our training ground at Borussia Dortmund, everybody could hear just that a few seconds before I can actually be seen. Everybody knows it's me. I love to hear the machine working.

Xinhua: In terms of football, you love to create noise on the pitch as well. Would you describe yourself as a goal machine?

Aubameyang: At least that is what I try to be. I want to score goals in every match, as many as possible. Recently I scored four times against Hamburg. It was the first time in my career achieved such as feast. So now I have to score five one day. I always set myself new goals. I always want to do better than I did in the past. I always want to achieve things I never achieved before.

Xinhua: Like becoming Bundesliga's best striker in a single season?

Aubameyang: For example, yes. Last season I scored 27 goals but still lost out against Robert Lewandowski. This season has started very well for me, but again I have some tough opponents, most notably with Anthony Modeste from FC Koln. I texted him the other day: "Keep calm, my friend." (laughs) No, I am happy for him to be so successful. And in a certain way it even helps me. The better the other strikers are, the more I have to work to be to be ahead of them.

Xinhua: Speed is another great asset of yours. How did you get so quick?

Aubameyang: I really don't know. At Milan when I was younger, I worked a lot on the leg press because I'd lost a bit of my natural speed as my body was changing. I was growing too fast for the rest of my body to cope and I had some knee problems. I worked really hard in the gym to regain these fast sprints. That makes me very proud.

Xinhua: Is it true you run 30m quicker than Usain Bolt?

Aubameyang: (laughing) I don' t know, but a few years ago I did 30m in 3.7 seconds. Whether that makes me quicker than Bolt, I don't know! We all know Usain is the best. I would love to have a race against him one day! It would certainly be a good challenge for me.

Xinhua: Was there any part of your game that you worked harder on last season?

Aubameyang: I've worked really hard on getting into the box more and being closer to the goal, which I think has brought real benefits to my game. It's definitely improved my goal scoring. I feel so proud to have had a good year last season, because before I arrived here, a lot of people were questioning about whether I could ever play as a striker, that I was a guy who could only run down the wing quickly.

Xinhua: Did you expect things to work out quite as well as they have at Dortmund?

Aubameyang: I was always sure the Bundesliga was the right choice for me. My first season was solid, if unspectacular, so maybe I would have preferred it not to be so hard at the beginning, but I've worked very hard to get to this point and want to get even better now.

Xinhua: What is it that you like so much about the Bundesliga?

Aubameyang: The mentality of coaches and players alike. It's all about winning. See, I've played in France. There, in many matches everybody is already happy if he can secure a point. Here, in Germany? Forget it! Everybody wants to win. The last-placed team in the standings would take any match with the ambition to win it. That makes it so hard, even for the best teams in the league. Only Bayern Munich really have some sort of a guarantee to win if they only catch a good day. All the others need really good days to win. I like that.

Xinhua: The 2015/16 season was your best in front goal. What changed?

Aubameyang: It was Thomas Tuchel's first season as coach and I played centrally always. The whole team had a great year, one that I enjoyed a lot. Our style has changed a bit, from trying to score within five seconds to a more calm and in some regard more educated style of play. We try to find the right moment - and then we explode.

Xinhua: You personally famously won the 2015 African Player of the Year, becoming the first Gabonese player to win the award. How proud were you to win such a prestigious accolade?

Aubameyang: It meant everything to me. As you mentioned, it was the first time a footballer from Gabon was elected Africa's Footballer of the Year. Even for the Bundesliga, it was something no African player had ever achieved. It still makes me incredibly proud and the happiest person on the planet. The moment my name was called was truly overwhelming and I was about to scream with joy.

Xinhua: The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted in Gabon. What does the hosting mean for the country?

Aubameyang: Truly a lot. Most of all I hope the tournament will help unite our people. My wish is to celebrate a big party all together. Of course, it is our task as a team to show as good of a performance as possible. That means at least advancing to the knock-out stage, and thereafter - who knows what we might be able to achieve. There have been miraculous stories in the history of big football events all around the globe, with host nations achieving fantastic results and even winning titles with the support of their fans.

Xinhua: When you were younger, who were your football idols?

Aubameyang: Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o, two fantastic African footballers. So successful. And very nice characters as well. I got the luck to know them personally. They helped me a lot. With Eto'o, I talked a lot about his great career and how I could become a better player. Drogba sent me a text message after I won the African Player of the Year award. It made me very happy.

Xinhua: With 27 years, now you are an experienced player yourself. How does that change you, let's say being a part of a very young team at Borussia Dortmund?

Aubameyang: I try to stay as young as these rookies are (laughs). But you are right; it feels a bit strange not to be anymore the youngster I used to be. But I'm okay with it. Mostly, I enjoy being on the pitch with so many talented players around me.

Xinhua: You make goal scoring look easy. Is it really that easy?

Aubameyang: Of course no. Every goal is hard work, especially in such an excellent league as the Bundesliga; or even take the Champions League. At the same time the players around me almost make it an automatism to score goals. We have so much quality and speed on the pitch - the genius of players like Mario Gotze or Marco Reus has to lead to goals.

Xinhua: How important is the recent comeback of Marco Reus for Borussia Dortmund?

Aubameyang: Very important, we are all very happy to have him back with us not only in training but also in matches. And he hasn't missed a bit until proving his worth to the team, scoring two goals against Warsaw in the Champions League. In the extended time of his absence we all assured him of how much we need him and how much supportive we were of him.

Xinhua: Support is the keyword: Borussia Dortmund's fans are famous for their massive support and building the so-called "yellow wall" inside our arena. How does it feel to run out in front of such passionate fans?

Aubameyang: The fans of BVB are truly amazing. It is hard to describe what you feel when you play in front of them, the atmosphere they create not only on the yellow wall with its 25000-something fans jumping up and down a full 90-plus minutes of every game, no matter the score or the opponent. There are a lot of things to like about them and the city of Dortmund as a whole.

Xinhua: Can you name a few?

Aubameyang: I like their honesty. And I like that my family and I can feel safe here. I don' t have to worry at all about my safety and their and my own safety. Believe me, in other countries I have made different experiences in that regard. All of this, too, has led to my decision to extend my contract until 2020, and I can imagine staying even longer. In football you never know, but generally speaking, I feel more than comfortable here. There' s no place on earth I'd rather be.

Xinhua: Dortmund have been battling with Bayern Munich over the last few seasons, but ended up as runner-ups twice in the three seasons since you joined. Do you think this young, exciting team can change Dortmund's fortunes this season?

Aubameyang: We have our ambitions, and of course I would love to win some titles after some years of finishing second or losing finals. And by beating them 1-0, in November we proved we could beat them...

Xinhua: ...with the goal coming off the boots of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang...

Aubameyang: (laughing) ...yeah, that was cool. But credit goes to my teammates, most notably Mario Gotze, who played a brilliant pass. Ultimately, we were lucky to hold on to that lead until the final whistle. As you said, we are a very young and to some extent inexperienced squad. They have to learn a lot. But ultimately, we are convinced that with some more experience, we can grow into a very successful team.

Xinhua: What represents a good season for Borussia this season?

Aubameyang: Achieving Champions League football is the minimum requirement and always the most important thing for this club. Beyond that, we want to win a trophy. Maybe the German Cup, because we've reached the last three finals, but haven't won one, so that's a big motivation for us.

Xinhua: What about the Bundesliga? Can you catch Bayern Munich?

Aubameyang: We know that' s going to be difficult, with being a few points behind after three months of the season, but we hope so. First and foremost, we have to focus on what we're doing and not worry about what Bayern - or any other clubs - are doing.

Xinhua: You've started the Champions League season very well.

Aubameyang: We are very happy with how things are going in Europe. It is a fantastic feeling to be able to head for Madrid for the last match-day of the group stage, and all that matters is who out of Real Madrid and us finishes first and second. Hopefully the draw for the knockouts will be kind to us, but at the same time there's nothing better than to compete with the world' s best player, players like Cristiano Ronaldo. Enditem