Jorge Jesus’s Al Hilal tenure heading for acrimonious end as Brazil speculation intensifies

Kaio Cesar’s livid reaction to being substituted caps woeful night for Saudi double winners as they crash out of AFC Champions League Elite in wild semi-final against Al Ahli

Jorge Jesus remains in contention to be Brazil’s next manager after an extraordinary chain of events on Tuesday night.

Reports earlier in the day in Brazil stated Carlo Ancelotti had agreed terms to take over the national team ahead of their June World Cup qualifiers.

However, it was later reported the deal had fallen through due to the terms of severance between the Italian coach and Real Madrid.

It means Jesus has been reinstalled among the leading contenders to take charge of the Selecao - while Ancelotti could become a candidate to replace him at Al Hilal.

The 70-year-old Portuguese coach has been highly regarded in Brazil since leading Flamengo to the Copa Libertadores title in 2020.

Either side of that successful stint in Rio, he has had tempestuous spells at Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

Just as the latest reports were surfacing in Brazil, Jesus was overseeing a wild end to Hilal’s latest bid for a fifth AFC Champions League title.

On a fiery night in front of 50,000 fans at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Jesus’ side lost control and were soundly beaten by Al Ahli Saudi in the semi-final.

Roberto Firmino, Ivan Toney and Feras Albirkan scored the goals that gave Ahli, who were playing at their home ground, a 3-1 win.

They were good value for it, hitting the post a number of times besides, and missing a penalty, while Toney also had two more goals ruled out for narrow offside decisions.

Hilal were architects of their own downfall. Kalidou Koulibaly was shown a red card in the second half for two brutal fouls, while a member of Jesus’ support staff was also sent off for his part in the first of a number of melees.

Jesus said the ill-discipline was down to Adham Makhadmeh, the Jordanian referee, who issued 11 yellow cards in all, including one in the first minute of the match.

“The referee wasn't at as good a level as the teams,” Jesus said.

“I think he was the one behind us having such a bad performance. There were many discussions and a lot of nervousness between the players.

"That made the game full of tension, I wish we had a better referee at a better level.

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  Al Ahli players celebrate after beating Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals in Jeddah. AP

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  Al Ahli players celebrate after beating Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals in Jeddah. AP

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  Al Ahli players celebrate after beating Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals in Jeddah. AP

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  Al Ahli's Galeno, right, fights for the ball with Al Hilal's Hamad Al-Tuhayfan. AP

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  Feras Albrikan of Al Ahli Saudi celebrates scoring his team's third goal. Getty Images

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  Edouard Mendy of Al Ahli celebrates his team's third goal. Getty Images

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  An Al Hilal fan looks dejected. Reuters

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  Al Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic screams at the referee. AP

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  Al Hilal coach Jorge Jesus reacts during the match. Reuters

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  Al Hilal fans wave flags to the match. Getty Images

“But I don't want to put everything on the referee. I’m the one responsible.”

Having overseen a spectacular campaign last time round, when they won 31 of 34 matches in an unbeaten league season, Hilal’s campaign has unravelled in recent times.

After their double success last season, pickings will be meagre this time around.

They are six points behind another Jeddah side, Al Ittihad, with five games left in the Saudi Pro League, while they crashed out at the semi-final stage in the Champions League for the second season running.

Whether Jesus would get a particularly glowing testimony from Hilal’s own Brazilian players seems unlikely at present.

In Friday night’s 7-0 thrashing of Gwangju, Marcos Leonardo had to be encouraged to leave the field by his teammates after he was substituted.

An even more spectacular meltdown followed Jesus’ decision to withdraw Kaio Cesar in the second half of the loss to Ahli.

Jesus introduced the winger in the 59th minute as Hilal, at 2-1 down, chased an equaliser.

In the next play Koulibaly was sent off for felling Roger Ibanez and, nine minutes later, Jesus opted to take Cesar back off.

The winger was stunned, holding his arms up in protest, and had to be pushed from the field by sympathetic teammates.

He was on the opposite side to the field to his manager, and furiously kicked out at a number of water bottles on his unhappy traipse back to the dugout.

“We lost our cool with a good team​, a team that has high-level players, like the ​Al Hilal players​,” Jesus said.

“We didn't lose to just any team​. It's true that we didn't do so well in that semi-final​, like what we thought we could do.

“When you lose, [blame has] nothing to do with it. The administration has nothing to do with ​Al Hilal's defeat today​; the one who lost the game here was coach Jorge Jesus​.

“I'm the coach​, and so we are not going to find a culprit. The only culprit is the one who makes decisions, who chooses the team, who makes the substitutions and who could have been better than what happened in the game.

“[I] didn't do as well as I thought I would​ and therefore, we will not find anyone to blame​. The number one culprit in this case is the coach, it's me.​”