Gabriel Jesus said he chose to leave Manchester City when coach Pep Guardiola made him cry after leaving him out of the starting lineup in a Champions League game.
The Brazil international spent five years working under Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium before signing with Arsenal last summer, which he described as a “freedom” move.
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Addressing the “Denilson show” webcast, Jesus said the defining moment in his City career came during their home game against PSG in November 2021 when he was named on the bench.
“There was a Champions League game, PSG, at home, in which he put [Oleksandr] Zinchenko as a false 9. Crazy thing. “The day before, he didn’t even use [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as a striker. … Zinchenko even joked with me: ‘that day I felt bad for you.’, Jesus said.
“Two hours before the game, there’s a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team, I didn’t even eat. I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk: ‘I want to leave.’ I’m going home, because he put [Zinchenko] on, and he didn’t put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”
Jesus came in for Zinchenko in the second half and set up the goal that gave City the lead before scoring the winning goal late on to win 2-1.
“I didn’t warm up,” Jesus added. “I felt bad. Five minutes after [Kylian] Mbappe scored the goal for 1-0, [Guardiola] called me. I gave an assist and scored; we turned it around 2-1. In the next [Champions League] game [a 2-1 win at RB Leipzig], I thought I was going to play, and I didn’t play.
“There was a lot of that with him [Guardiola], and it’s not easy. But one [player] evolves. It is really hard. That’s when I decided, I didn’t want to stay anymore. And I decided to leave.”
Jesus left Palmeiras for Manchester City in January 2017, where he won 11 titles.
In his first season with Arsenal, he made 26 appearances in the league and scored 11 goals and set up seven more. Arsenal finished second in the Premier League to Manchester City.
