Arsenal’s official website on Tuesday released part of a docu-series produced by the club and Adidas on the recovery and rehabilitation of Gabriel Jesus, and in the series, the Brazilian spoke in length about the injury that kept him on the sidelines for four months.
Jesus who joined Arsenal from Man City in the summer suffered a knee injury during Brazil’s group stage game against Cameroon in the World Cup in Qatar, but the 25-year-old says after getting the knock, he did not feel anything at first as he continued to play for another 15 minutes before getting subbed off.
But while at the bench, it become apparent to the former Man City striker that the injury – that would later force him to do a surgery- was more serious than he thought.
“To be honest, I don’t know what happened! I don’t feel nothing, but something changed. I kept playing without pain, discomfort, nothing. Then I get subbed off, nothing. Then after, on the bench, it became so big I couldn’t bend my knee and I was so scared you know.
“I’ve always been good with pain, I have played football since I was or 12 years old and have played with pain.”
His country and club teammate Gabriel Martinelli who was also on the pitch that day was also unaware that his colleague had suffered a serious injury.
“At half-time, he said he was feeling something in his knee, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I think it was the day after the game, he went to do the scan, and he was in the canteen where we were about to have lunch. He said there was something in his meniscus and he needed to have surgery.
“When you have this type of injury you get sad, you know? You could see in his face he was sad, but at the same time you could see that energy that he has, that hunger that he has and he was telling everyone he was going to come back stronger and that’s what he tried to do.”
Before the injury, Jesus had been on form, scoring five goals and recording as many assists for his club. He returned to action on March 12 in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham in the Premier League.
Jesus has since featured three times for his team, and he will hope to rediscover his scoring form as Arsenal look to secure a first Premier League title since the 2003/04 season.
