Reason behind Jesus’ phone call celebration
There are several great footballers out there at present who didn’t have a silver spoon in their mouth.
The humble beginnings are what makes them good human beings. And Arsenal’s new number nine falls in the same category.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil and honing his skills in the grounds of a military prison in the north of city, the 25-year-old used to leave home at five in the morning to walk four miles to training in flip-flops because he couldn’t afford the bus fare.
At the age of 12 and 13, when most of the talented kids are being snapped up by the academies of the best clubs in the country, Jesus was still without one, struggling.
However, his mother never forced him to stop playing. Speaking to The Player’s Tribune in 2017, the former Man City man said, “I owe everything to my mom.”
‘My mother always believed in me,’ Jesus
“Because a lot of kids in Brazil, when they’re from humble means, they have to start working in order to help the family. They can’t do football and school and work. So, the dream dies for them at that point.”
He continued, “But my mother, she believed in me. For whatever reason, she believed. She told me to keep going, no matter what I had to do.”
Jesus, who has played 56 times for his national team Brazil and 233 times for the current Premier League champions, scoring more than 150 times in total, is almost always seen with one celebration.
The Phone Call. He explains the reason behind it, “Whenever I score for Manchester City, my mother calls me. As soon as the ball hits the back of the net, the phone rings.”
The new Arsenal number nine went onto say, “It doesn’t matter if she’s back home in Brazil or if she’s in the stadium watching me. She calls me every time. So, I run to the corner flag, and I put my hand to my ear, and I say, “Alô Mãe!”
“When I arrived at City, people thought this was really funny, and they kept asking me what it means.”
“There’s a quick answer, which is that I love my mother, and she’s always calling me.”
The club’s faithful would certainly like to see those celebration countless times in the seasons to come. That would mean happy fans, and most importantly for Jesus, a happy mother back home.
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