Jorge Jesus: “We lost Neymar and we continue with great quality.”

The Portuguese coach comments on Al Hilal’s victory over Al Ahly

Al-Hilal, under the leadership of coach Jorge Jesus, defeated Al-Ahly 3-1 on Friday, increasing its gap with second-placed Al-Taawoun to five points. The Portuguese coach highlighted the quality of the team’s performance even without star Neymar, who was injured with the Brazilian national team against Peru and will be absent for a long time. “We lost Neymar and we continued to perform with great quality. He wondered: What would it be like if Al-Nasr lost Ronaldo, or Al-Ittihad lost Benzema, or Al-Ahly lost Mahrez?

The coach, born in Amadora 69 years ago, highlighted the football played by his team in the match against one of the title candidates. “A great match between two great teams with great players and a great atmosphere. This quality is important to show the strength of football in Saudi Arabia. A well-deserved victory against another candidate for the title.”

Jorge Jesus made some changes to the usual starting lineup, and confirmed that he will do the same on Monday, in the Al-Hazm match led by Portuguese coach Felipe Gouveia. “The big teams play every three days, and Al Hilal is in that group. The team has become increasingly secure defensively. After 11 games, we have nine wins and two draws, as happened my first time here, in 2018/19. Today some new players came and the same thing will happen again on Monday. We have to manage the team.”