Gabriel Jesus returns to starting lineup and helps Arsenal make history in win at Inter Milan

MILAN (AP) — Gabriel Jesus is already hitting top form just a month after returning from a lengthy injury layoff.

The Arsenal forward was given only his third start this season and he scored twice in a dynamic first half to set his side on the way to a 3-1 victory at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Jesus, who was named player of the match at San Siro, was out for almost a year after tearing his ACL last January.

“It’s a dream night. I always dreamed of being a footballer," Jesus told Amazon Prime. "I watched when I was a kid, I watched a lot of Serie A, so to be here in this stadium and score here is tears in my eyes because I always dreamed of being here.

“There is always a reason that things happen even whether it’s good things or difficult things. I learned that during my 11 months out of the field."

Jesus returned in December but has made mainly substitute appearances since then, with his only starts prior to Tuesday coming in domestic cup competitions.

However, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta named the Brazilian in the starting lineup at San Siro in place of Viktor Gyökeres, who has struggled to adapt since his big-money move from Sporting Lisbon in the summer.

“Everyone wants to start," Jesus added. "I am a very respectful guy. I am not a kid anymore, I am 28, so I understand football.

“I am very happy Vik came on and scored a goal. I am so happy I scored and Vik scored.”

Jesus fired Arsenal in front in the 10th minute with an instinctive finish to stretch out his leg and get on the end of a scuffed Jurrien Timber shot.

It was his first Champions League goal in more than two years, since netting in a group match against Lens in November 2023.

Inter leveled eight minutes later through Petar Sucic, but Jesus was again in the right place at the right time to again put Arsenal in front in the 31st minute.

Bukayo Saka swung in a corner from the right to the far post, where Leandro Trossard nodded it back across for Jesus to head home.

Gyökeres came on for Jesus in the 75th and scored Arsenal’s third, nine minutes later.

“This is great, we’ve been missing Gabby a lot,” Arteta said. "It’s going to raise his confident level, that of the team’s because we have now different profiles in that position.

“And the fact that those players are playing at that level — Victor comes in, he had a great impact as well in the game — it only makes us better and that’s what we’re seeking.”

The victory assured table-topping Arsenal of a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League and also saw it win seven European games in a row for the first time in its history.

Arsenal has never won the Champions League, although it reached the final in 2006 — losing to Barcelona.

Arteta’s side also tops the Premier League, with a seven-point advantage, and hosts Manchester United on Sunday.

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Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Inter Milan and Arsenal in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Inter Milan and Arsenal in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus, left, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Inter Milan and Arsenal in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Inter Milan and Arsenal in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Inter Milan and Arsenal in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to take control of the South American country's oil.

U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post that U.S. forces apprehended the Motor Vessel Sagitta “without incident” and that the tanker was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

The military command did not say whether the U.S. Coast Guard took control of the tanker as has been the case in prior seizures. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for more details. Southern Command said it had nothing to add to its post.

The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged tanker and its registration says it is owned and managed by a company in Hong Kong. The ship last transmitted its location more than two months ago when exiting the Baltic Sea in northern Europe.

The tanker was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under an executive order related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The post from U.S. Southern Command indicated the ship had taken oil from Venezuela. It said the capture of the tanker “demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully.”

The military command posted what appeared to be aerial footage of the Sagitta sailing on the ocean, but unlike in prior videos the clip did not show U.S. forces flying toward it in helicopters or landing on the deck of the ship.

Since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid on Jan. 3, the Trump administration has set out to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products.

Officials in Trump’s Republican administration have made it clear they see seizing the tankers as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies nearly two weeks ago to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. He said at the time that the U.S. expected to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. already has taken 50 million barrels of oil out of Venezuela.

“We’ve got millions of barrels of oil left,” he said at the White House. “We’re selling it on the open market. We’re bringing down oil prices incredibly.”

The first tanker was seized off the coast of Venezuela on Dec. 10. Most of the other tankers also have been captured in the waters near Venezuela, with the exception of the Bella 1, which was captured in the North Atlantic.

The Bella 1 had been cruising across the Atlantic and nearing the Caribbean when on Dec. 15 it abruptly turned and headed north, toward Europe. The ship was ultimately captured on Jan. 8.

President Donald Trump gestures while he speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)