Pereira v Jesus: Portuguese peers with fierce and far-reaching rivalry | OneFootball

When Al Shabab were looking for a new manager at the start of the year, they made a wise choice in opting for Vitor Pereira.

Not only is the 56-year-old an accomplished coach with previous experience in Saudi Arabia - he previously took charge of Al Ahli - he is also Portuguese. And, with four of the past six managers to win the Roshn Saudi League hailing from the sun-soaked country, there is clearly something in the water on the Iberian Peninsula.

Last season, Jorge Jesus became the latest to add his name to that list when he guided Al Hilal to a record-breaking, and undefeated, domestic campaign.

Yet not only is there a generational difference between Pereira and 70-year-old compatriot Jesus, but there also exists a social and cultural one as well. Two of the RSL’s tactical masterminds hail from either side of the heated Lisbon-Porto divide in the country of 10 million people.

It’s a club rivalry that dates back centuries, all the way to 1255 when Lisbon was made capital instead of Porto and carries forward today in the form of football in the clash known as O Classico. It pits against one another two of the most popular clubs in the country: Benfica and FC Porto.

Lisbon is considered the more modern, upper-class city, while others regard Porto more soulful and working class. Whether those stereotypes are accurate will depend on your perspective, but what isn’t in doubt is the competitive fire between the two. It is real and it is intense.

Jesus was born in Amadora, near Lisbon, while Pereira comes from Espinho, about 20km south of Porto. And, so, their allegiances were set practically from birth. While neither played for Benfica or FC Porto (although Jesus did represent Benfica’s Lisbon rivals, Sporting CP), when it comes to their managerial careers, the two are inextricably linked to their respective camps.

In six seasons with Benfica between 2009 and 2015, Jesus captured three Primeira Liga titles. Pereira, meanwhile, won back-to-back championships with Porto, in 2012 and 2013. For those two seasons, in 2011-12 and 2012-13, Jesus and Pereira locked horns on either side of the great divide, with Pereira’s Porto having the edge.

In their four league meetings across those campaigns, Porto secured two wins and two draws, with Jesus’ Benfica unable to truly rattle Pereira’s side. When Porto secured the 2011-12 title by a single point ahead of Benfica, and the 2012-13 top-flight trophy by six, it’s fair to say those results mattered that little bit more.

Those two taut seasons where characterised by the rivalry between the managers as much as the teams, with the pair locked in a public verbal slinging match in their respective press conferences across the 24-month period.

Amid a series of refereeing controversies that were deemed to favour Jesus’ Benfica side, the now-Al Hilal coach retorted that his side always won “clean”. The claim prompted Pereira to bite back, current Al Shabab manager pronouncing that the title would be “dirty” that season if Benfica were to clinch it.

And, while Porto had the last laugh in the league, in the 2011-12 Taca da Liga, Portugal’s version of the League Cup, it was Benfica that eliminated their rivals in a 3-2 thriller in the semi-final. That came merely weeks after another classic in the league that went the way of Porto by the same scoreline. It ultimately saw them lift the league title.

But in the Cup, Benfica had their revenge. Much to the delight of Jesus.

“The aim was to beat Porto here for two reasons,” he said in a famous interview. “Firstly, because we could go through to the final; and secondly, because we'd played a game here [in the league], which we lost, but we weren't convinced. In fact, we were convinced that we were the best team. And today we've confirmed that we are the better team.

“We deserved to be winning at half-time. We had a lot of chances, three goals against the posts. Porto were just very lucky. There were no cases [of contentious refereeing] during the game. We were better and won fair and square.”

Now, some 7000km from their native Portugal, the dogmatic duo have resumed hostilities in another deep-burning competitive enmity, this time one contained within a city. The fellow countrymen compete currently on opposite sides of Riyadh; Pereira in the black-and-white corner with Al Shabab, and Jesus in the blue with Al Hilal.

After Pereira was appointed for the second half of last season – Al Shabab languished 11th in the table - the two have already met once in the RSL, in another high-scoring clash. There, in Matchweek 25 of the 2023-24 campaign, Jesus registered his first league win against Pereira with Al Hilal nicking it 4-3 in an epic encounter at Al Shabab Club Stadium.

Now, this Saturday at the same venue, the rival managers will do battle again as Al Shabab look to continue the recent, and somewhat unexpected, stumble experienced by Al Hilal.

Last week, Jesus suffered only his second league defeat with the RSL champions - a record that takes in his six-month stint at the start of the 2018-19 season - in the shock 3-2 loss to Al Khaleej. Three days later, Al Hilal were held to a 1-1 draw at Qatar’s Al Sadd in the AFC Champions League Elite - although the result did see them progress to the knockouts.

In this new era at Al Hilal, two games without a win feels unprecedented, something that hasn’t happened in 14 months. Not, you’d imagine, that the ever-confident Jesus will be panicked in the slightest.

Al Shabab, meanwhile, come into this weekend’s fixture as one of the league’s form sides, with three wins and a draw in their past four - although they will be disappointed to have not taken all three points from last Friday's 1-1 draw with lowly Al Okhdood. Still, they sit fourth in the 2024-25 standings, two places and six points below Al Hilal.

Saturday’s showpiece, though, will feel as much about a face-off between managers as it will the teams. The war of words may have calmed down between Jesus and Pereira, but old passions die hard. Claiming the win against a former foe will therefore taste that little bit sweeter for whoever emerges victorious.