Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr reacts to Gabriel Jesus' performance in Arsenal's 4-1 win over Leeds

Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr. shared his appreciation for compatriot and Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus after the latter's performance against Leeds United on April 1.

The Gunners won 4-1 against Leeds at home in the Premier League on Saturday. Jesus scored a brace in what was his first league start following his knee injury back in November 2022.

The Brazilian striker suffered the injury during the 2022 FIFA World Cup and had to undergo surgery. He returned to action last month with a few substitute appearances in the league before starting their UEFA Europa League game against Sporting CP.

However, he was fully back on Saturday as he took Leeds to the cleaners with an outstanding performance. After the game, Jesus shared a post on his Instagram account with the caption:

"Very happy for the day I have lived today. After a lot of hard work and perseverance on the rehab, here we are again. Let's go, gunners!"

Real Madrid forward Vinicius commented on his compatriot's post with white heart emojis.

Jesus' Arsenal teammate Eddie Nketiah also shared his appreciation by commenting:

"Bravo Gabby"

A screenshot of the comments on Gabriel Jesus' Instagram post.

Jesus joined Arsenal from Manchester City for £45 million last summer. He has since scored seven goals and provided seven assists in 24 games across competitions for the north London side.

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Gabriel Jesus reflects on his time out after Arsenal's win over Leeds

After the game, Gabriel Jesus reflected on having to deal with the aforementioned injury and being out of action for over three months. He stated that he saw it as a challenge and worked hard to return to action as soon as possible.

Jesus said (via Arsenal.com):

“I love challenges. Obviously with an injury and when there’s surgery involved, it’s not easy but if God gives me this challenge, it’s because I can survive and come back stronger.

“I remember day one of rehab, working hard and thinking about the way to come back. If I don’t work hard, I’ll come back soft.”

Manager Mikel Arteta replaced the Brazilian international in the 60th minute with Bukayo Saka. Sharing his disappointment on the same, Jesus said:

“Obviously, every player wants to play the full 90 minutes, I think I’m ready to play more minutes. However, when the ref said to me I was going off, I was a little bit disappointed because I want to play, but of course I respect the manager and the other players as well.

“So, it was 60 minutes, but I enjoyed it a lot.”

With the win, Arsenal maintained their eight-point lead over Manchester City atop the Premier League table, having played one more game than City. They will next face Liverpool at Anfield on April 9.