Arsenal Captain Hits Back At Toni Kroos After Comment On Masked Goal Celebration

After Toni Kroos made it known in the public that he is not impressed with how Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang savors the moment whenever he hits a goal, the Arsenal forward clapped back at the Real Madrid midfielder.

The war of words began when Kroos accused Aubameyang of being a poor role model for his "nonsense" celebrations involving superhero masks.

Even during his time at Borussia Dortmund, Aubameyang pulled out a number of different masks to celebrate with his teammates. Back in March 2019 when they played against Rennes in the Europa League, he wore a cowl inspired by the film "Black Panther."

Speaking on the Einfach mal Luppen podcast, Kroos admitted that Aubameyang's goal merriment is not his cup of tea.

"I find it [choreographed celebrations] very silly. Even worse is if there are any objects hidden in their socks. Aubameyang once celebrated and took out a mask, Kroos said, as quoted by Goal. "That's where it ends with me. I don't think that's a good role model, either. What nonsense."

Aubameyang took aim at the World Cup winner. At first, he was reluctant to respond to the comment made by Kroos. But all of a sudden he was reminded of why he was doing it in the first place, showing an artwork drawn by a school pupil.

"By the way - does this Toni Kroos have kids? Just remember, I did it for my son a few times and I will do it again. I wish you have kids one day and make them happy like this junior school pupil," the 31-year-old wrote on Twitter.

His tweet ended with the hashtags "Mask On" and "Stay Safe" with a clown emoji, seemingly in response to a viral footage of Kroos failing to follow safety protocols and wear a mask while on Real Madrid duty.

Kroos immediately responded to that and quoted Aubameyang’s tweet with a reply: “This Toni Kroos has three kids.”

After seeing Kroos' retort on Twitter, the Arsenal captain quickly countered by sharing an image of himself and Marco Reus wearing Batman and Robin masks during their days as Dortmund teammates.

“Send Toni Kroos congratulations for his the kids, cordially your Batman and Robin,” he stated.

People online were quick to defend Aubameyang after his social media exchanges with Kroos--including fellow Gunner Mesut Ozil.

Ozil commended his Arsenal comrade for having a unique post-goal ritual and posted the famous "Black Panther" pose of Aubameyang.

Arsenal is set to return to action on Nov. 22 against Leeds United in the English Premier League.