On a a night when Mikel Arteta needed his young side to come of age in the Champions League, fittingly one of Arsenal’s most experienced players led the way.
Gabriel Jesus can be a source of frustration at times, but when he is in this kind of mood there is little opposition teams can do.
The Brazilian created Arsenal’s first goal and then scored the winner as the Gunners took control of Group B with a 2-1 victory.
Jesus boasts an impressive record in the Champions League, with 23 goals in 41 appearances.
He has scored in all three of the Gunners’ Champions League games this season and Arteta admitted that nights like these are a big reason why he signed the striker.
“Big games for big players,” said Arteta. “He came here for a reason; he changed our world. He’s brought so much belief and energy to the team, and he needs to step into those moments.”
It is often argued that Arsenal need a cutting edge up front — and it is why links with Brentford striker Ivan Toney will not go away as the January transfer window draws closer — but in Jesus they have a creator.
The Brazilian brings the best out of those around him and his performance here last night was a reminder of that.
Injuries have prevented Arteta from fielding his preferred front-three of Bukayo Saka, Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli much this season and he will hope for good news after Jesus asked to come off nine minutes before the end after tweaking his hamstring.
The Brazilian is optimistic nothing is wrong, but he was due to have a scan on Wednesday. Jesus, Martinelli and Saka all started last night for only the second time this season and it would be a blow to Arsenal if they were broken up again.
Led by Jesus, the trio have an excellent understanding. In particular, the relationship between Jesus and Martinelli is especially strong, with the pair regularly swapping roles to cause defenders problems.
“As the type of player I am, I drop a lot more on the left side than the right side,” said Jesus. “Obviously I drop on the right as well to help B [Bukayo Saka] and to play with B, but I drop more on the left. It works.
“The wingers we have, not just Martinelli and B, but Reiss [Nelson], Leo [Trossard] and even Eddie [Nketiah] or Fabio [Vieira] when they play there, they are quality players. I just go out wide and I try to play short passes and give them the ball, and they try to find me as well.”
Martinelli and Jesus combined for Arsenal’s first goal, as the latter produced an assist of the highest quality. With a single turn he left two defenders for dead, before playing in Martinelli to score. “I want to see a slow motion of the first turn,” said Arteta. “He was so sharp.” Jesus’s finish for his goal was just as good. Clearly high on confidence from his assist, the striker cut in from the left and curled the ball into the top corner.
The frustration with Jesus is that he does not do more of that. Last season he scored 11 goals for Arsenal and in the two years before that, at Manchester City, he managed 14 and 13 respectively.
That is why the calls for Arsenal to bolster their forward line exist, but the wider value of what Jesus brings cannot be overlooked.
The only blemish on his copybook was that he lost Nemanja Gudelj at a corner for Sevilla’s goal just before the hour mark. That set up a tense final 30 minutes, but Arsenal held firm despite some nervy moments from goalkeeper David Raya.
William Saliba was utterly dominant in the heart of defence, while Takehiro Tomiyasu justified coming in for Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.
Both players, like many in the Arsenal squad, are making their Champions League debuts this season and holding out for three points at a place like this will serve them well going forward.
