The man widely dubbed ‘the new Neymar’ matched his mentor goal for goal at the Maracana Stadium on Wednesday evening in Brazil’s 6-0 thrashing of Honduras in the semi-final in Rio.
The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown wrote: “There is supposed to be only one Jesus in Rio, and he stands about 100 feet tall at the summit of Corcovado Mountain, but the performance of a 19-year-old striker from Palmeiras proved to be the centrepiece of a savage demolition.
“The name Jesús echoed all around this fabled stadium, never more so than when he lashed the ball into the roof of the net for his second and Brazil’s third. It is a rare talent who inspires Pep Guardiola to pick up the telephone, but one could see why Manchester City have pursued Jesús so determinedly. He will arrive at the Etihad, quite the snip at £28 million, in January.”
Back to Club matters now and ESPN columnist Simon Curtis has given his assessment on Tuesday’s stunning 5-0 win at Steaua Bucharest.
“It has taken Pep Guardiola exactly five games - three of which were half-paced preseason friendlies - to show his new audience what a difference quality makes,” Curtis reflected.
“Manchester City’s squad has contained stellar talent in abundance for eight or more years now, but the 5-0 win over Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League playoffs on Tuesday night provided something of an eye-opener, even in these bejeweled times.
“It was City’s biggest-ever away win in European competition and featured a strolling, effortlessly effective performance from a group of players who could go on to achieve serious notoriety under the Catalan.”
After the game a number of news outlets carried quotes from striker Sergio Aguero, who managed to score a hat-trick despite missing two penalties on the night.
The Daily Mirror’s David Anderson reported: “Serio Aguero claims he will carry on as Manchester City’s penalty taker despite his double miss.
“Aguero’s two failures against Steaua Bucharest mean he has missed four of his last five spot-kicks in Europe.
“The striker bounced back by scoring a hat-trick to take his tally to four in his first two games for City and says his confidence is unaffected.
“’Yes, I’m confident enough to continue,’ he said. ‘I changed my mind about how to take the second penalty, but it didn’t go in unfortunately, but it’s OK. Things worked out well in the end.
“’I haven’t missed two penalties and scored three before!
“’I was happy to score so many goals, but the most important thing for me was that the team won.’”
And finally, news of Raheem Sterling’s excellent start to the season has travelled as far as Sports Illustrated.
They report: “Raheem Sterling has got his season off to an impressive start at Manchester City—and new manager Pep Guardiola may be the reason why.
“Guardiola called the midfielder a “fantastic player” after Man City’s 5-0 thrashing of Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League playoff first-leg match on Tuesday, when Sterling set up two goals and looked dangerous both on and off the ball.
“’He’s fast, has a good work ethic, can play right or left, go out to the line or go in the middle,’ Guardiola said.
“That display came just three days after Sterling also impressed in City’s 2-1 home win against Sunderland in the English Premier League.”
That’s your lot for today - we’ll be back same time tomorrow but keep your eyes on our City Now feed for all the latest as it happens.
