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The new Ronaldo: Gabriel Jesus, Manchester City's own Fenômeno, on why he's doing things his way

It passed under the radar in an enjoyably demob-happy round of Champions League games, but one of the year's most cherished unbeaten runs came to end on Wednesday night.

It belonged not to Manchester City – although the curtain did indeed fall on their 22-game autumnal romp – but to one of their players. Finally, some 403 days and 47 games after Palmeiras lost 1-0 to Santos at the cosy Vila Belmiro stadium, Gabriel Jesus ended a competitive football match on the losing side. He had probably forgotten what it felt like.

Correlation always aspires to causation, of course, and it bears noting that those games were played in the colours of, variously, the runaway Brazilian champions (for whom he played four more times after that last reversal in October 2016), a resurgent Brazil national team and, yes, probably the best side in Europe at the moment. But Jesus has been protagonist rather than passenger in that sequence, contributing far more than anyone could reasonably expect of a 20-year-old.

You will struggle to name a young player who has had a better 2017. Much was expected of the zippy, wide-eyed forward who left Palmeiras for Manchester, but not this much: the speed of his adaptation to the Premier League was extraordinary – Pep Guardiola's go-to quote on Jesus in those opening months of the year was often a simple "wow" – and while he has found league starts harder to come by since Benjamin Mendy's injury ushered City's 3-5-2 experiment into cold storage, he remains a compellingly polyvalent threat.

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His 15 Premier League goals so far have come from 18 starts, at a rate of one every 98 minutes. (Sergio Agüero, the oil to his water as far as selection goes, has scored 19, four of them penalties.) But his value is not just weighed in goals and assists; it's in the darting runs that go unnoticed by the TV cameras but open up space for team-mates, in his desire to track back and in the constant harrying of opposition defenders.

"He helps us with the first line of pressure like no one else can," Guardiola has said – a view to which José Fonte, whose West Ham side were put to the sword by a Jesus-inspired City back in February, subscribes. "It's not just in attack that he contributes, by scoring goals and making good runs," the centre-back explained to The Independent. "What most impresses me is his attitude and willingness to defend.

"He's a hard worker, which helps his team a lot defensively, and his movement is good: he's a player who is constantly on the move. It's hard to control someone like that over 90 minutes. He's a good young player with big potential."

Jesus has been outstanding as City have swept all before them (AFP)
Jesus has been outstanding as City have swept all before them (AFP)

For Brazil, too, he has made a startling impact: he netted five times in his first six starts after being drafted into the senior set-up by Tite, doing as much as anyone to drag the Seleção out of the doldrums and into their shiny new present. Barring injury, he will lead the line for one of the favourites for the World Cup next summer, which, given his tender years, is nothing short of phenomenal.

Little wonder, then, that some have sought to draw comparisons with the last great Brazil No.9 to make that adjective his own. "He's the new Ronaldo," claimed Daniel Alves before the Seleção's game against England last month. "They have similar qualities, a similar drive. He's going to be one of the greats."

But while that soundbite no doubt pleased subeditors the world over, Alves has not been the only one to invoke the name of O Fenômeno. "Physically, he's so strong. He's explosive," said Fernando Prass, the veteran Palmeiras goalkeeper and some-time mentor for Jesus, last year. "Often, he reminds me of Ronaldo, in his movements and his acceleration. When he gets clear, nobody can stop him."