{"id":60181,"date":"2026-01-21T02:10:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=60181"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:10:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:10:02","slug":"jesus-brace-helps-arsenal-down-inter-to-seal-champions-league-qualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/jesus-brace-helps-arsenal-down-inter-to-seal-champions-league-qualification\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus brace helps Arsenal down Inter to seal Champions League qualification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Jesus is already hitting top form just a month after returning from a lengthy injury layoff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Arsenal forward was given only his third start this season, and he scored twice in a dynamic first half to set his side on the way to a 3-1 victory at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.<\/strong>
\nJesus was out for almost a year after tearing his ACL last January.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream night. I always dreamed of being a footballer,\u201d Jesus told Amazon Prime. \u201cI watched when I was a kid, I watched a lot of Serie A, so to be here in this stadium and score here is tears in my eyes, because I always dreamed of being here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always a reason that things happen, even whether it\u2019s good things or difficult things. I learned that during my 11 months out of the field.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus returned in December, but has made mainly substitute appearances since then, with his only starts before Tuesday coming in domestic cup competitions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta named the Brazilian in the starting lineup at San Siro in place of Viktor Gyokeres, who has struggled to adapt since his big-money move from Sporting Lisbon in the summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to start,\u201d Jesus added. \u201cI am a very respectful guy. I am not a kid any more; I am 28, so I understand football.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am very happy Vik came on and scored a goal. I am so happy I scored, and Vik scored.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus fired Arsenal in front in the 10th minute with an instinctive finish to stretch out his leg and get on the end of a scuffed Jurrien Timber shot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was his first Champions League goal in more than two years since netting in a group match against Lens in November 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inter levelled eight minutes later through Petar Sucic, but Jesus was again in the right place at the right time to put Arsenal in front in the 31st minute.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka swung in a corner from the right to the far post, where Leandro Trossard nodded it back across for Jesus to head home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gyokeres came on for Jesus in the 75th and scored Arsenal\u2019s third nine minutes later.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The victory assured table-topping Arsenal a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League and also saw it win seven European games in a row for the first time in its history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arsenal have never won the Champions League, although they reached the final in 2006, losing to Barcelona.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arteta\u2019s side also top the Premier League, with a seven-point advantage, and host Manchester United on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Jesus is already hitting top form just a month after returning from a lengthy injury layoff. The Arsenal forward was given only his third start this season, and he scored twice in a dynamic first half to set his side on the way to a 3-1 victory at Inter Milan in the Champions League …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60183,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60181\/revisions\/60183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}