Gabriel Jesus made his first start of the World Cup on Friday, but he suffered an injury in the process and had to come off early and his World Cup looks to be over.
Gabriel Jesus came into the Brazil team to face Cameroon on Friday, his first start of the tournament having spent the previous two games on the bench making substitute appearances.
The Arsenal striker completed 91% of his passes in Friday’s match, creating two chances, taking two shots, and winning three of his four ground duels, as well as making one tackle and one interception.
But after just 64 minutes, Jesus had to come off, and reports suggest he was struggling with an injury.
Goal Brasil’s Raisa Simplicio reported that Jesus felt pain in his right knee, and he’d undergo medical tests on Saturday to assess the issue.
Globo Esporte now claim the player has had those tests and will miss three weeks of action, ruling him out of the rest of the World Cup. This was then confirmed by Charles Watts:
Can confirm Gabriel Jesus’ World Cup is over.
He is still waiting on more test results to determine the exact nature of the knee injury and how long he will be out for, but early results show he will not be available for the rest of the tournament.
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) December 3, 2022
We’re only two weeks away from the end of the competition, even if Brazil make it all the way to the final.
From an Arsenal point of view, the concern will be that the injury keeps him out of their games when club football returns. The Gunners’ next match is on December 26th, just over three weeks from now.
Globo Esporte claim the recovery period for Jesus is “up to a month”, so he shouldn’t miss a huge amount of football with Arsenal. But with the games coming thick and fast over the festive period, there will be plenty of nervous Gunners fans for the next few weeks.
Jesus was reportedly already carrying the problem during matches with Arsenal, but he’s now reached the point where he has to stop and address it.