Jesus feared his World Cup was over
he was, I had the pleasure of getting to know the person he is, which made me admire him even more. He has conquered everything, but he is humble and great company to talk to.
“There were a lot of negative things in my head when I did the injury, which is logical. When I felt the pain there, I tried to continue after the throw-in, and I couldn’t.
“That moment was complicated because I had thoughts about the rest of the season, the national team, the World Cup – I thought of everything. But my family gave me a lot of support.
“Thank God it was not a worse injury. I’m better, every day better, recovering well. I put it in my head that I have to recover well and not fast.
“The knee is a very complicated part, even more so as I’ve never had an injury there. I need to recover well, treat it well, and take good care of myself so that I can get back better than I was.”
Manager Pep Guardiola insists Jesus will be back soon but the young striker is likely to need at least two weeks of full training to build up his fitness before he could be considered for a recall.
Jesus said: “I have always said I’m going to do it. I’ll train a lot. I’ll try to help my team-mates here at City and Brazil have two friendlies in March and I’ll try to be ready.”
While Jesus is still feeling his way back, City’s trophy hopes were boosted by the return of a trio of stars – David Silva, Leroy Sane and Fabian Delph – in the 4-0 win over Basle in Switzerland.
But Fernandinho says the team are refusing to listen to the increasing ‘buzz’ about their quadruple chances as the bookies continue to slash the odds. The player insisted it would be dangerous to look too far ahead.
“Probably that’s our uniqueness: we don’t listen to the buzz around us,” said the Brazilian midfielder.
“We know the definitions are coming over the next three or four months. But we keep thinking game by game and that’s important.
“We’re not trying to reach further than is possible. That’s a virtue we’ve got. We have an incredible preparation for each game. The focus is 100 per cent. We can’t deny confidence is high when you look at our results and the way we’ve been playing.
“We are getting more and more confident and that’s the way to get our goals: go through in the Champions League, try to win the Premier League title as soon as possible, plus it will help our chances in the other two competitions we’re still in.”