Jesus steals the show as Arteta gets Arsenal tactics spot on in Europe
In the city of oranges, Gabriel Jesus was Arsenal's darling clementine.
Scoring one jaffa and making another, Jesus gave Sevilla the pip and sent the Gunners top of Group B after a resilient display garnished by two glorious finishes. Pluck a handful of fruit from the citrus trees in this neck of the woods and you can make a nice jar of marmalade to spread on your toast.
But get your sums wrong at the Estadio Ramon-Pizjuan, one of European football's fortresses, and you can find yourself in a right pickle. Top marks to Mikel Arteta – the Arsenal manager got his selection and tactics spot-on, and this will go down as one of the Gunners' best performances on the continent for years.
They had the best away record in the Premier League last season, but their conviction evaporated as soon as they got past Calais on their previous overseas excursion to Lens.
And there are few sterner tests of intestinal fortitude or firm rectum than a bearpit where Manchester United came a cropper six months ago.
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Sevilla (nine games, nine points) have made a ropey start in La Liga, but they are always a different beast in Europe, where former Gunners coach Unai Emery led them to three consecutive Europa League triumphs.
So it was much to Arsenal's credit that they set about their task with reassuring tenacity, Takehiro Tomiyasu firing an early sighter into the side netting before Gabriel Martinelli spurned a glorious chance inside the first 10 minutes.
Played in by Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli – on his Champions League debut – produced a bland finish which Sevilla keeper Orjan Nyland was grateful to smother.
Gabriel Jesus was Arsenal's darling clementine in Seville (AFP via Getty Images)The Gunners did not need any extra incentives to rain on Sevilla's parade. But around 2,500 emissaries from north London on their half-term holidays were soaked on the open tribunes by pulses of rain in a part of Spain where it hadn't rained for five months until last week.
Jesus, lifting another presentable chance over the angle, should have made more of it, and Arsenal almost paid for their profligacy in first-half added time, Moroccan World Cup star Youssef En-Nesyri's fierce left-foot shot skidding beyond the far post.
But there was still enough time before the break for Jesus to send Martinelli galloping clear beyond Sevilla's kamikaze high line, and this time the Brazilian made no mistake, skipping round Nyland to finish with panache.
Among those left trailing in Martinelli's slipstream by Jesus's wonderful spin and pass was Sergio Ramos, back at his boyhood club at 37 after collecting four Champions League winner's medals with Real Madrid.
The Brazilian was forced off with a hamstring injury (PA)Ramos will never harvest much sympathy among English audiences, not least for wiping out Liverpool's Mo Salah in the 2019 final. But his body language was in notable contrast with the giddy travelling disciples singing in the rain at the interval after Martinelli's second goal in three games.
Arsenal should have struck again within three minutes of the restart, Hyland beating away Jesus's lob from a tight angle and Martin Odegaard firing the loose ball over the top from 12 yards.
It didn't matter because Jesus, cutting in from the left flank, whipped a fabulous shot into the far top corner, his fourth goal of the season – three of them in the Champions League – after 53 minutes. But just when the Gunners thought their night was under control, they handed Sevilla a gratuitous route back into the contest.
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Coaches hate conceding from set pieces at this level, and Arteta will be furious that Nemanja Gudelj was afforded generous space to head home from a corner just five minutes later.
Arsenal wobbled briefly, and David Raya's punch onto the roof of his own net during the six minutes of added time was heart-stopping, but Jesus deserved to take the laurels.
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