Only two years as a professional were enough for Gabriel Jesus to be completely loved by the Palmeiras fans. The 19-year-old left the club for Manchester City with 28 goals in 83 appearances, quite a good achievement for such a young player.
That’s why he got something quite rare in Brazil: a song for himself. Local supporters there normally have many chants for the club, but not for players.
By having the name of Jesus in their hands, Palmeiras fans didn’t need much creativity. They took a song which is already sung in churches, which is ‘Glória, Glória, Aleluia’ and put the name of the now Manchester City striker in at the end.
The tune and the words are quite similar to something used up the road from City, at Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
So in one of his TV reports, ESPN Brasil journalist João Castelo Branco showed Manchester City fans the song. Having lived in England for many years, he had a pretty good idea of what their reaction would be, but still asked them what did they think of it.
“We won’t sing that, because obviously Man United sings that,” said a fan.
“Glory, glory, Man United? No, I can’t see that catching, no!”, said another.
The Manchester United element is clearly putting fans off Gabriel Jesus’ prized song.
With his name sung or not, Gabriel Jesus is already training with Manchester City and is available to make it to the match-day squad this weekend.
Jose Mourinho takes his Manchester United squad to the Etihad next month, maybe Gabriel Jesus will think the away fans are singing for him.
