‘You never know’: Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang keeps up record chase

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck his 20th goal of the league campaign on Saturday for Borussia Dortmund to continue his assault on Gerd Muller's Bundesliga season record of 40.

Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates after his goal against Ingolstadt on Saturday in Dortmund's Bundesliga victory. Bernd Thissen / EPA / January 30, 2016

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was delighted to have already met his target of 20 Bundesliga goals this season to stay on course to match Gerd Muller's record of 40 in 1971/72.

The Gabon star scored twice as Borussia Dortmund trimmed Bayern Munich's lead in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Ingolstadt on Saturday.

The result left Dortmund five points behind Bayern, who host Hoffenheim on Sunday, and stretched their lead over third-placed Hertha Berlin to 10 points.

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‘Auba’ – the African player of the year – has now hit 20 goals in 19 league games and has scored 29 times in all competitions.

His Bundesliga tally means he is already two goals ahead of where Bayern Munich legend Muller was at the same stage of the ‘71/72 season on the way to the record.

But Aubameyang, who pledged to score 20 goals before the current campaign started, is under no illusions of the task he faces to even match Muller’s amazing haul.

"I still need to score 20 goals to do it, right?" he told the Dortmund-based Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper. "That's a lot, but in football you never know."

He headed second-placed Dortmund into a 77th-minute lead, but replays showed he was offside when right-back Lukasz Piszczek launched his cross.

“At that moment, I didn’t see I was offside, I just headed the ball in,” said Aubameyang.

“We have conceded four goals this season which were offside, so things balance themselves out.”

It was harsh for Ingolstadt who looked to have taken the lead midway through the second-half when Dortmund captain Mats Hummels’ backpass flew over goalkeeper Roman Burki.

But the referee did not give the goal after spotting an Ingolstadt foul in the build-up.

Aubameyang put the game beyond doubt by drilling home Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s pass on 86 minutes.

He is the top scorer in Germany’s top flight, three ahead of Bayern’s Poland striker Robert Lewandowski.

“It doesn’t interest me at all whether Lewandowski is before or behind me,” said Aubameyang when asked about his rivalry with Lewandowski.

“The important thing is that I score goals for the team and we win. It will all be tallied up at the end.”

Having bet Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel he will score 20 goals before the campaign started, Aubameyang teased reporters by saying the wager is not yet done and dusted.

“It’s true I’ve achieved my goal, but I haven’t yet managed to fulfil my bet with the coach, you’ll have to be patient,” he said when asked for details of the wager.

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