Gabriel Jesus has urged his Arsenal teammates to believe they can win the Champions League after their hard-fought win at Sevilla.
The 26-year-old assisted Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goal on the stroke of half-time before netting a fine 53rd-minute strike himself as Arsenal secured a 2-1 win at Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan on Tuesday.
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Defeat would have left Mikel Arteta’s side in a perilous position but instead they now top Group B ahead of two home matches against Sevilla and Lens next month.
Jesus reached the 2021 Champions League final during his five-year spell at Manchester City and after extending his record in the competition to 23 goals from 41 appearances, the Brazil striker insisted that Arsenal — who have never won European club football’s biggest prize — should be targeting glory at Wembley next June.
“It’s a competition that I love, like the Premier League,” he said. “All the competitions I love, because I just love to play football. But since day one in the Champions League, my debut, I scored goals.
“I haven’t won it yet, so I am looking for this, for this beautiful trophy. Obviously it is not easy, but I think we have to believe. If we don’t believe, we cannot be here.”
Jesus left the field nine minutes from time after suffering a hamstring issue which Arteta admitted afterwards had left him “worried.”
However, Jesus played down the severity of the injury, adding: “Let’s see. I did some tests with the physio, it looks not that big [a problem], but let’s see. I have a scan. I’m pretty sure it will be nothing.”
