Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has opened up on the physical struggles he endured after being diagnosed with malaria.
The 31-year-old picked up the disease while on international duty with Gabon in March but miraculously still returned to play in games against Liverpool and Slavia Prague at the start of April.
After a stay in hospital, the Arsenal captain made his return to the side last week as a substitute in the 2-1 Europa League defeat to Villarreal, before starting and scoring in the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United.
While he has still not fully recovered from the virus he is expected to start the second leg of the Gunners' clash with Unai Emery's side and has now opened up on the effects he is still suffering from.
"I would say 90%," Aubameyang said when asked how he felt physically at the moment.
He then opened up on the story of how he got the illness and how it had affected him in those games against Liverpool and Slavia.
"To tell the truth I was feeling just normal. A bit down," he said. "I thought it was the travel because as you know going to Gabon it’s not so close to here.
"Yeah I felt just a bit tired especially against Liverpool but I thought that it was just because of the travel.
"I don’t know what was the percentage of my form at that moment because I didn’t know that I had malaria but definitely I felt a bit tired and that’s it."
The 31-year-old then went on to explain how malaria affected him across what were a scary few days for him and his family.
"I was feeling very, very bad. I think this was the worst moment of being sick in my life because it was really hard," he said.
"I had three days in a row of fever all day and night non-stop. Even the paracetamol and stuff had no effect on this.
"After that I spoke to the doctor and I said I needed to go to the hospital because definitely I was travelling to Africa so maybe it was something like malaria.
"I stayed in hospital for three days and I was really, really down. I think I lost four kilos.
"It was a really bad moment and I think it was scary for my family to see my like this. But after that I had some good treatments.
"I have to tell the truth that the staff they did very well and the doctors in the hospital. I’m lucky that we took it in the right moments because sometimes with malaria if you don’t treat it quickly you can have some big, big problems."
Having faced the press on Wednesday and come through Sunday's game at St. James' Park, it is likely that the 31-year-old will feature against Villarreal on Thursday and he admitted that he was hoping the game would be a chance for him to make amends for what has been a relatively quiet campaign in front of goal.
"This season has been really, really difficult," he said. "Everyone was expecting me to score more goals definitely. I know it.
"Maybe I feel a bit responsible for the situation we are in right now. But we have still this opportunity to change it, to win this game and hopefully to go to the final and win it. This is our main target."
