Barcelona fans got the first glance of new signing Pierre-EmerickAubameyangin action when he made his debut for the club during the crucial Spanish La Liga clash with Atletico Madrid at home on Sunday evening. Auba as he’s fondly called played almost half an hour as Barcelona beat Spanish champions Atletico Madrid 4-2 with ten men to move above their opponents into the Champions League places for the first time in several weeks.

Aubameyang moved from Arsenal to Barcelona on the last day of the winter transfer window last month after he fell out with Mikel Arteta at the Emirates Stadium. His last game for Arsenal was at Everton in the Premier League at the start of December 2021 as he was dropped from the first-team squad for disciplinary reason as confirmed by Arteta.

Barcelona were able to signAubameyangafter Arsenal agreed to pay part of his salary until the end of the season with the player also making a financial sacrifice to seal the transfer to the Nou Camp. Barcelona will continue to pay the salary of the Gabonese international wholly on reduced wages as from the end of the season. Auba penned a three-and-a-half year deal until 2025 when he joined Barcelona last week Monday and he was handed his debut in the Atletico Madrid game.

Aubameyang came on for fellow January arrival AdamaTraorein the 61^st minute with Barcelona leading 4-2 after coming from behind. Yannick-Ferreira Carrasco gave the visitors an eighth minute lead and it was cancelled out almost immediately by a world-class Jordi Alba strike for Barcelona in the tenth minute before the Catalans scored further goals through Gavi and Ronald Araujo in the first half. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid then scored through veterans Dani Alves and Luis Suarez in the second half before the former was sent off in the 69^th minute. Barcelona held on for a 4-2 win with ten men for the rest of the game.