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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Nurnberg 3-5 Arsenal: Gabriel Jesus scores twice on unofficial debut in entertaining pre-season friendly

Gabriel Jesus scored twice on his unofficial debut for Arsenal in an entertaining 5-3 win over Nurnberg to kick-off the pre-season tour.

The new £45million man came on at half-time with the Gunners 2-0 down, and was on the scoresheet inside two minutes, linking up well with Eddie Nketiah, before a smart flick off a Gabriel Martinez cross 18 minutes later wrapped up the victory.

Mohamed Elneny had scored the equaliser for 2-2 nine minutes after the restart with a rocket from 30 yards out while two own goals ensured Mikel Arteta's side got their pre-season campaign off to a winning start.

A slow start to proceedings from Arsenal was of no surprise given the embryonic nature of pre-season, and they were lucky not to fall behind almost immediately when Christoph Daferner failed to hit the target with a free header after just three minutes.

Gabriel Jesus scored twice is a perfect first match. (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Emile Smith Rowe came closest to scoring in the opening stages after cutting inside and bending a fine effort towards the far top corner, but Christian Mathenia produced an even better save to palm the ball away.

Minutes later and Nurnberg took the deserved, which was not undeserved, as Johannes Geis let fly from 25 yards to beat Matt Turner via the underside of the crossbar.

Five minutes later it was 2-0 as a sloppy touch from Albert Sambi Lokonga in the centre released Kwadwo Duah to run through and beat Turner inside the area.

Gabriel Martinelli congratulated for a fine assist for the fifth goal. (REUTERS)

Kieran Tierney almost immediately went off, though there was no sign of injury so his half-hour cameo may have been pre-planned.

The second half saw Jesus introduced for his unofficial debut and he took just 90 seconds to open his account, running through and slamming the ball past the goalkeeper at the near post.

That kicked off a second-half goal rush as Elneny soon added another with a screamer from fully 30 yards to level the scores.

Kieran Tierney was withdrawn after half an hour. (REUTERS)

Two minutes later, Arsenal lead through a Christopher Schindler own goal and a further five minutes after Nurnberg gifted another with a Tim Handwerker own goal.

Marquinhos came on for his debut but was soon watching on as Lukas Schleimer's half-volley reduced the deficit for the hosts, only for Jesus to two minutes later add his second.

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