Al-Ittihad’s Wissing reunion gives Al-Nassr rivalry an extra edge

Jeddah will host a meeting shaped by last season’s disappointments when Al-Nassr visit Al-Ittihad on Saturday evening in the Saudi Pro League.

The two sides meet at Alinma Stadium in the main fixture of round five, with both carrying strong motivations into the latest edition of one of Saudi football’s biggest rivalries.

For Al-Ittihad, the match offers a chance to settle several scores from last season. For Al-Nassr, the focus will be on avoiding a repeat of the defeat that denied them a major Asian trophy a loss inflicted by their opponents’ current manager, Jens Wissing.

The first source of tension dates back to the opening match of last season, when Al-Nassr beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final in Hong Kong.

Al-Nassr went on to reach the final, where they lost to Al-Ahli on penalties. The defeat was particularly damaging for Al-Ittihad because it ended their hopes of completing an unprecedented domestic treble.

The Jeddah club had already secured the Saudi Pro League title and the King’s Cup, completing the domestic double for the first time in their history. Al-Nassr’s victory in the Super Cup semi-final denied them the chance to add a third trophy.

That result also began the end of Laurent Blanc’s time in charge of Al-Ittihad. The final blow came on 26 September last year, when Al-Nassr beat them 2-0 in the fourth round of the Saudi Pro League.

It was Al-Ittihad’s first league defeat after three successive victories, but the club’s management dismissed Blanc without waiting for the next fixture.

Blanc, who had led the team to its historic domestic double, departed in difficult circumstances. The club then struggled under Portuguese manager Sergio Conceicao, who was unable to reproduce the success of his French predecessor.

Al-Ittihad eventually finished fifth in the league, while they were eliminated from the King’s Cup in the semi-finals and from the AFC Champions League Elite in the quarter-finals.

Al-Nassr completed a league double over their rivals by winning the return fixture by the same 2-0 scoreline. It was their third victory against Al-Ittihad in the same season and this time it came without Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo had stopped playing during that period in protest at the level of support shown to Al-Hilal during the previous winter transfer window. He did not end that protest for the Al-Ittihad fixture.

Despite the Portugal captain’s absence, Al-Nassr prevailed and completed a league double over Al-Ittihad for the sixth time since the start of the professional era in the 2008-09 season.

Al-Ittihad did gain a measure of revenge in the King’s Cup, beating Al-Nassr 2-1 in the round of 16. The result denied Al-Nassr several opportunities, most notably the chance to complete the domestic double.

Al-Nassr had recovered the Saudi league title at the end of the campaign after a seven-year wait. Al-Ittihad, however, stopped them from achieving the same in the King’s Cup, a competition the club had not won for approximately 36 years, since 1990.

Al-Ittihad did not go on to win the cup themselves. They were eliminated in the semi-finals after a surprise defeat by Al-Kholood on penalties.

Wissing reunion

The most painful setback of last season belonged to Al-Nassr, and it was not caused directly by Al-Ittihad. Instead, it came at the hands of Wissing, who now leads the Jeddah club.

On the famous night of 16 May, Al-Nassr hosted Japan’s Gamba Osaka at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh in the final of the AFC Champions League Two.

The expectations before kick-off pointed towards a historic Al-Nassr triumph, given the difference in resources between the teams. Wissing, then in charge of Gamba Osaka, had other plans.

He guided the Japanese side to the AFC Champions League Two title for the first time in their history, with Gamba Osaka securing a historic 1-0 victory.

The defeat denied Al-Nassr their first AFC Champions League Two crown and prevented them from winning an Asian trophy for the first time in 28 years, since their continental Super Cup success in 1998.

Wissing now faces Al-Nassr again, but in Al-Ittihad’s dugout. His task is to hand the Riyadh side their first defeat of the current campaign just as he did at the end of last season.