Tuesday, November 14, 2017



Brazil captain Dani Alves has hailed Gabriel Jesus as the side's "new Ronaldo" as they prepare for Tuesday's friendly with England.

The visitors to Wembley are among the favourites for next summer's World Cup in Russia, owing largely to the potent combination of Gabriel and Neymar in the final third, and have improved considerably since Tite's appointment as manager in June 2016.

Their last World Cup victory was inspired by Ronaldo in 2002 but Gabriel's continued emergence for Manchester City and his country has increased optimism surrounding their chances.

"I wasn't joking when I called him the new Ronaldo," Alves said. "He's already great and will get even better. For all that he's done, all that he's achieved, there's no pressure. He's doing what he loves."

Gabriel joined City from Palmeiras in January and Tite said the Premier League club owe the Brazilian side for developing the striker.

"City should be very pleased with Palmeiras and the coaches there who formed a player [Jesus] who is already at such a good level," he said.

"To the point he came here with a natural fluency. I already mentioned the mental capacity he has and his technical ability. He didn't need much time to adapt, he was already showing a very good level."

England have similar confidence in the abilities of their striker Harry Kane, and Tite said: "The characteristics of Gabriel Jesus and Kane are a bit different. Gabriel attacks the space, gives us that depth; Kane is more positional. They're two strong strikers.

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