sport news Arsenal 3-0 Rennes (4-3 agg): Hosts reach Europa League quarter-finals

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It really did not require a super hero to send Arsenal through in Europe on Thursday night. Still, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is as near as they have got to one around these parts, so it was only right that he should get to score the goal, and wear the mask, that confirmed their superiority.

Until Aubameyang scored his second of the night after 76 minutes, Arsenal were relying on UEFA's away goals rule to secure their progress into the last eight. Aubameyang gave them an outright aggregate win. He celebrated by plucking a Black Panther mask from behind a hoarding, pulling it on and performing the crossed armed Wakanda Forever salute. He had it ready for the match with Manchester United, too, but when he scored couldn't find it. Aren't super heroes meant to have x-ray vision for that sort of stuff?

No matter. Wakanda is a fictional sub-Saharan African state invented by Marvel Comics, and the birthplace of their first black superhero. Since Black Panther became a hugely successful film, the Wakanda Forever sign has come to signify black excellence. Aubameyang certainly represents that. In his last 13 home games for Arsenal, he has been involved in 15 goals now: scoring 11, with four assists. He was the difference again last night, picking off Rennes just when they had started to look dangerous.