Arsenal were dumped out of the Europa League by Olympiacos on Thursday night. Many expected the Gunners to brush aside their Greek opposition in the second leg of their last 32 tie after taking a 1-0 lead back to the Emirates. But that didn't happen and in the end, Mikel Arteta's side were embarrassed. Pape Abou Cisse scored early in the second half to level the aggregate score, sending the game to extra time. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang thought he'd won it for Arsenal in the 114th minute, scoring a cracking bicycle kick. But with seconds to play, Youssef El-Arabi struck at the other end. The 2-1 win sent Olympiacos through on away goals and dumped the Gunners out of the Europa League. But even after going 2-1 down, Aubameyang had a golden opportunity to spare his side's blushes. With virtually the last kick, he had a chance to win it again but fired wide from point-blank range. No one inside the Emirates could believe what they had just witnessed. If there's anyone in an Arsenal shirt you want to see that chance fall to, it's Aubameyang.
After the full-time whistle, the Gabon international was a broken man, giving an emotional post-match interview.
While some fans were harshly blaming him for that big miss, Ian Wright took it upon himself to send Aubameyang some words of encouragement 24 hours later.
In fact, the Gunners legend made a plea on Instagram asking the striker to stay at the club and sign a new deal.
"We love you!!! This club loves you. Our fans love you. Forget about last night," Wright wrote on social media.
"If you weren’t here with all due respect to the rest of our team we’d be in deep trouble. For you to score the amount of goals you are scoring whilst doing all that defending is just incredible!!!
"(Please stay and sign the ting)."
It's a classy message from one Arsenal legend to another. Wright had no doubt been in that position many times throughout his own career so knows what it's like to get some stick from fans.
No matter how bad Aubameyang's miss on Thursday was, he's still one of the best strikers in Europe and as Wrighty says, a very important player for the Gunners.