Jesus hat-trick brings up 500 Man City goals for Guardiola

Peter Lynch

Jesus hat-trick brings up 500 Man City goals for Guardiola image

Manchester City have now scored 500 goals in all competitions under Pep Guardiola, with Gabriel Jesus surpassing 100 career goals after netting a hat-trick against Dinamo Zagreb.

The Brazilian striker scored his 99th, 100th and 101st career goals in the 4-1 victory over the Croatian side on Wednesday.

And his efforts mean that City have now scored 500 goals in all competitions under their current manager.

It’s taken the club 199 games to achieve the feat, and they’ve scored at least 95 more than any other senior English team since Guardiola's appointment in 2016.

City made it through their Champions League group unbeaten after the win in Zagreb, with their four victories and two draws helping to secure top spot in Group C.

The hosts went into an early lead thanks to a fantastic Dani Olmo volley, but a 20-minute hat-trick across both halves from Jesus helped the away side to all three points. 19-year-old Phil Foden then added another late on.

The Brazil striker made it four for the campaign having also netted in the 3-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk in September, with 55 of his career goals for club and country coming for City.

Jesus boasts 28 for former side Palmeiras and 18 for the Brazilian national team.

But he remains well behind both Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling for his club, who have scored 108 and 73 goals respectively for City under the Spaniard.

German winger Leroy Sane sits just behind his Brazilian team-mate on 39.

The Manchester club are once again the highest scorers in this season’s Premier League, having managed 95 on their way to the title last season.

They’ve already hit 44 in the current league campaign, four ahead of Leicester and five more than leaders Liverpool.

And Guardiola’s side have been similarly ruthless in front of goal in Europe this season with 16 goals from their six matches, level with RB Salzburg and only one behind Tottenham Hotspur. Bayern Munich lead the way with 21, with the German side set to meet Spurs later on Wednesday evening.

Despite a hugely successful Champions League campaign so far, Guardiola has insisted that the competition is not a priority this season.

Peter Lynch