forward Gabriel Jesus says his comment about ‘goals not being my strong point’ was taken out of context, though feels it is an aspect of his game he still needs to improve.
The Brazil international was unable to find the back of the net in his nation’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina last month, with his latest blank meaning he has netted just once in his last 29 appearances for the Selecao.
Afterwards, he courted a degree of controversy and even mockery back in Brazil for saying – something that is rather important for a striker.
But he has now clarified what he meant with the remark and feels the comment was overblown, while he still believes he can be a decisive, game-changing frontman even when not on the scoresheet.
Speaking to , he said: ‘It was a moment there, after a stressful game in which there were many situations and we lost to a rival. And sometimes we get tired of talking about it, you know?
‘It’s obvious that they’re going to hammer away at it. I’ve always been honest. And there, after the game, I felt like talking.
‘It’s just that I put myself in a position where I think I said the wrong thing to those people who don’t make the effort to understand.
‘I’ll say it again, but now I think it’s clearer: I don’t think scoring goals or fighting for the top scorer’s honour is my strong point, but I can improve, I want to improve and I will improve.
‘I have other qualities too, but I score goals, I’ve scored goals that have helped the team, I’ve scored hat-tricks.’
He continued: ‘Many people, not generalising, only look at the result after the game. Then they see that Gabriel didn’t score, didn’t provide an assist. And then they think “Oh, he didn’t do well’ but they don’t watch the game and they don’t see what happened.
‘Obviously there are things to improve, there always will be, but the coach is happy.
‘Of course I understand the real fans, who see beyond the goal. But they want their number 9 to score as well. And I score, you know? I’m getting better and better.
‘But I also understand my other strengths, which I won’t give up in order to be a goalscorer. If you say to me: “Ah, but would you rather just score there and lose those other qualities?”, I’d say no.’
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