In nearly three years in charge at Benfica Jorge Jesus has brought swashbuckling football, pride and huge crowds back to the Estádio da Luz.
However, the home defeat by FC Porto in Friday’s clássico gave the Lisbon club’s bitter rivals from the north a three-point advantage as the title race goes into the home straight.
Should the Dragons remain top until the end of the season, and barring an unlikely triumph in the Champions League, the only silverware of note Benfica would have won in Jesus’ tenure would have been the 2009/10 championship.
With presidential elections around the corner, that trophy haul may well prove too little for Benfica’s demanding public and dictate the departure of the 57 year old.
But the season is not over yet. Jesus needs one of two things to happen to save his job.
(1) A run deep into the latter stages of the Champions League; (2) A late season surge to overtake Porto. Achieving the former, starting with Tuesday’s Champions League 2nd leg against Zenit, could well provide the confidence boost and momentum to make the latter doable.
The Eagles could not have chosen a worse time of the season to experience a serious blip. After having lost just once in their first 34 matches in 2011/12, three defeats and a draw in their last four matches has seen Benfica’s 5-point lead at the top of the Liga ZON Sagres converted into a 3-point deficit, and the necessity to stage a comeback to get past the Russians.
As is his wont, Jesus has come out fighting and says he is confident his team can turn around recent poor results. “Confidence remains high. The result in the first leg (a 2-3 defeat) gives us a good chance of getting through to the next round, although we know we will be facing a strong team.“
Lovers of attacking football will be hoping that Jesus can persuade the Benfica hierarchy he is the right man to definitively return the Portuguese giants to former glories.
But as highlighted by the sacking of his compatriot André Villas-Boas by Chelsea at the weekend, in football only one thing tends to matter in the eyes of the power brokers at football clubs - results.
Should the Dragons remain top until the end of the season, and barring an unlikely triumph in the Champions League, the only silverware of note Benfica would have won in Jesus’ tenure would have been the 2009/10 championship.
With presidential elections around the corner, that trophy haul may well prove too little for Benfica’s demanding public and dictate the departure of the 57 year old.
But the season is not over yet. Jesus needs one of two things to happen to save his job.
(1) A run deep into the latter stages of the Champions League; (2) A late season surge to overtake Porto. Achieving the former, starting with Tuesday’s Champions League 2nd leg against Zenit, could well provide the confidence boost and momentum to make the latter doable.
The Eagles could not have chosen a worse time of the season to experience a serious blip. After having lost just once in their first 34 matches in 2011/12, three defeats and a draw in their last four matches has seen Benfica’s 5-point lead at the top of the Liga ZON Sagres converted into a 3-point deficit, and the necessity to stage a comeback to get past the Russians.
As is his wont, Jesus has come out fighting and says he is confident his team can turn around recent poor results. “Confidence remains high. The result in the first leg (a 2-3 defeat) gives us a good chance of getting through to the next round, although we know we will be facing a strong team.“
Lovers of attacking football will be hoping that Jesus can persuade the Benfica hierarchy he is the right man to definitively return the Portuguese giants to former glories.
But as highlighted by the sacking of his compatriot André Villas-Boas by Chelsea at the weekend, in football only one thing tends to matter in the eyes of the power brokers at football clubs - results.
