Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus has stated that his mum is the reason for his phone call celebration anytime he scores a goal.
Jesus is familiar with the iconic celebration from his Manchester City days to the national team and even at his current club, Arsenal.
When asked during an exclusive interview with Arsenal TV if the celebration was for his mum, Jesus affirmed it to be for her. Gabriel revealed that his mum would call his three older friends whenever she is unable to reach out to me:
“Yes, I do it for my mum because she made all the difference for me – the way I live my life, she taught me everything. I have three older friends who are almost like my brothers, and if my mum couldn’t get me on the phone, she would call them. So we talked about it one day and came up with the celebration for her, and then when I was with the national team they asked me to do it. It’s for my mum, but not just for my mum, it’s for all the mums who call their sons and can’t always get hold of them.”
Discussing how his mother and siblings shaped his career, Gabriel said it’s almost the same story for every family where the father will be absent through death, and it’s their mother who stood by them during the hard time:
“Where I grew up, the way I grew up, she was like an angel for me. Most of the players and their mums were the same. In Brazil, many of our footballers have the same sort of history – they come from poor areas where everyone dreams of being a footballer, their mums help them a lot and they don’t have a father. My history is quite similar to a lot of players in Brazil, and if you ask them they will say exactly the same. We try to keep our focus on one thing – the football – and not get distracted by bad things, and our mums were always reminding us of that. And that’s what I tried to do when I was growing up.”
The Brazilian started his career at his home country Palmeiras before switching club allegiance to Europe with Manchester City where he stayed 5 years, winning ten trophies with four Premier League titles inclusive. In 2022, Jesus moved to Arsenal after losing his spot under Pep Guardiola.
As a modern striker, Jesus can also operate from the right wing and left wing. In his 385 club caps, he has netted 143 goals and assisted 66 times.
He was handed his senior debut in 2016, having gone through the academy stages of U20 and U23 with the Brazilian national team. He has scored 19 goals in 64 appearances with the senior team.
