Jorge Jesus Dares What No Manager Could: Benching Football’s Biggest Ego
In the high-stakes world of elite football management, there exists an unwritten law: you don’t bench Cristiano Ronaldo or Ronaldo Rule. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer learned this the hard way at Manchester United. Fernando Santos faced a national outcry when he tried it with Portugal. Even Zinedine Zidane one of football’s most decorated players had to negotiate rather than dictate rest periods to CR7.
But at 70 years old, Portuguese tactician Jorge Jesus is playing by different rules. His audacious gambit? Limiting the 40-year-old superstar to just 75% of Al Nassr’s matches a revolutionary workload management strategy that’s either tactical genius or a catastrophic ego clash waiting to explode.
For Champions League purists accustomed to managers tiptoeing around star egos, this Saudi Arabian experiment raises a provocative question: Can systematic rotation finally solve the Ronaldo or Ronaldo Rule paradox-extracting peak performance from an aging icon without becoming enslaved to his demands?
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The Paradox Every Manager Faces: The Ronaldo Dilemma
Here’s the contradiction that has tormented Ronaldo’s coaches for years: the team performs better statistically when he plays, but achieves greater tactical balance when he doesn’t.
During the 2024-25 season under Stefano Pioli, Al Nassr won 68% of matches with Ronaldo in the lineup solid, but not dominant. When CR7 was rested (like the 4-0 King’s Cup demolition of Jeddah), the win rate actually improved to 75%. The team scored marginally fewer goals (2.0 vs 2.1 per game) but maintained structural discipline.
Yet paradoxically, Al Nassr cannot afford to drop Ronaldo or Ronaldo Rule. He delivers 7 goals in 6 matches this season. He’s the commercial engine generating 400%+ revenue growth. Fans wearing the iconic Ronaldo football kit whether Real Madrid white, Manchester United red, or Al Nassr’s yellow and blue fill stadiums expecting one thing: to see CR7 play.
The €200 Million Question
This creates what European managers would consider an impossible bind. Ronaldo’s contract isn’t just the richest in football history at €200 million annually he also owns an estimated 15-20% equity stake in the club. He’s simultaneously employee, shareholder, and the brand itself.
How do you bench your own co-owner?
Jorge Jesus’s answer: you don’t bench him you strategically rotate him. And critically, you get him to agree to it first.
Jorge Jesus: The Tactical Revolutionary or Stubborn Ideologue?
To understand why this 75% strategy is so controversial, you need to understand Jorge Jesus himself a manager whose career reads like a psychological thriller of brilliance and betrayal.
The Benfica Betrayal
In 2015, Jesus committed what Portuguese football considers an unforgivable sin: after winning three league titles with Benfica and restoring them to domestic dominance, he defected to cross-city rivals Sporting. The fury was biblical. Benfica’s director of communications publicly attacked his “ego and bank balance”. Former Sporting presidents called him a “lunatic asylum” case and “psychiatric patient”.
But here’s the twist: Jesus’s track record suggests he might actually thrive on conflict. At Flamengo, he won the Copa Libertadores and Brasileirão in 2019 using high-intensity pressing tactics Brazilian football had never seen. At Al Hilal, he delivered the Saudi Pro League title before a spectacular falling-out with club management.
The Jesus Philosophy: Total Football or Totalitarianism?
Jesus’s tactical identity is clear: 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formations with relentless pressing, rapid transitions, and positional rotation. He demands physical fitness bordering on obsession. He rotates positions constantly to confuse opponents think Luis Enrique’s PSG Champions League campaign where no player had a fixed role except the goalkeeper.
But here’s the catch: Jesus notoriously refuses to rotate his players. At Al Hilal, he relied on just 14 regular starters while the rest gathered dust on the bench. One Saudi pundit suggested Jesus intentionally avoided rotation “because he does not want his players to feel like they have already run away enough with the league”.
Critics point to his failure to develop youth talent Benfica lost future superstars João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva because Jesus wouldn’t give them minutes. His ego clashes with club presidents are legendary. He once received a 100,000 riyal fine for publicly attacking Saudi referees.
So when Jorge Jesus says he’ll limit Ronaldo’s playing time or Ronaldo Rule, the natural question is: will he actually follow through? Or is this just pre-season propaganda before reverting to his old habits?
The 75% Strategy: Tactical Masterstroke or Mutual Deception?
According to Saudi journalist Falah Al Qahtani, Jesus and Ronaldo or Ronaldo Rule reached a mutual agreement before the 2025-26 season: CR7 would play approximately 37-38 of Al Nassr’s 50 annual matches rather than his usual 41+.
The Theoretical Advantages
On paper, the strategy is brilliant:
For Ronaldo’s Longevity: At 40 years old, his body maintained through obsessive sleep discipline (11pm-8:30am daily), cryotherapy, and five 90-minute nap sessions daily still needs strategic rest. Reduced game time could extend his career through the 2026 World Cup.
For Tactical Balance: Al Nassr’s biggest weakness isn’t attack it’s defense. They conceded 38 goals in 2024-25 despite scoring 80. The defensive record has dramatically improved under Jesus this season: just 3 goals conceded in 6 matches (0.5 per game) compared to 1.1 per game historically.
For Squad Development: Players like João Felix, Kingsley Coman, and Sadio Mané get more responsibility. The team learns to function without total Ronaldo-dependency crucial for long-term sustainability.
For European Marketing: Crucially, 75% still means 37-38 appearances enough for fans purchasing the Al Nassr kit with “Ronaldo 7” on the back to see their icon regularly. The commercial equation holds.
The Hidden Dangers
But scratch beneath the surface and the risks become terrifying:
1. The Ego Factor: Ronaldo has spent 23 years as football’s main character. At Manchester United in 2022, he reacted furiously when benched by Erik ten Hag, eventually forcing an exit. Can a man who says “I’m different now but I still need to play every game to feel important” truly accept reduced minutes?
2. The False Security: Al Nassr’s 75% win rate without Ronaldo came against weaker opposition like FC Goa and Jeddah. What happens in high-pressure Saudi derbies against Al Hilal or Al Ittihad? The recent 2-1 King’s Cup defeat—where Ronaldo did play 90 minutes suggests the team struggles against elite opponents even with him.
3. The Jesus Paradox: History shows Jesus says one thing and does another. He claimed he’d rotate at Al Hilal then used the same 14 players relentlessly. Will he really bench Ronaldo in a crucial Champions League knockout game? Or will the 75% plan evaporate under pressure?
4. The Commercial Trap: Season ticket holders and broadcasters paying premium prices for “Ronaldo’s Al Nassr” will riot if he’s benched for important matches. When he missed the AFC Champions League clash in India, local media called it a “betrayal”.
The European Perspective: What Would Guardiola or Klopp Do?
For Champions League-obsessed European fans, this Saudi experiment offers a fascinating thought experiment. Imagine:
- Pep Guardiola facing this dilemma with prime Messi at Barcelona—would he dare implement 75% rotation?
- Jürgen Klopp managing a 40-year-old Mohamed Salah who owns 15% of Liverpool could he enforce rest days?
- Carlo Ancelotti juggling Ronaldo’s ego at Real Madrid while trying to win a fifth Champions League wait, he already did this, and it required masterful diplomacy, not dictatorial rotation.
The European model traditionally privileges meritocracy and tactical necessity over individual star power. But Saudi football operates differently it’s part sporting project, part commercial spectacle, part geopolitical soft power via Vision 2030.
Jesus is essentially running a European tactical system on a Saudi commercial model. The contradictions are explosive.
The Defensive Renaissance: Early Evidence of Success
Here’s what Jorge Jesus’s defenders (pun intended) will point to: the strategy is actually working.
Compare Al Nassr’s defensive statistics across recent seasons:
- 2022-23: 62 goals scored, 31 conceded
- 2023-24: 78 goals scored, 34 conceded
- 2024-25 (Pioli): 80 goals scored, 38 conceded ← Getting worse
- 2025-26 (Jesus, 6 games): 15 goals scored, 3 conceded ← Dramatically better
The pressing system is working. The positional rotations are confusing opponents. And crucially, Ronaldo or Ronaldo Rule is still scoring 7 goals in 6 appearances suggests he’s fresher and sharper when he does play.
In the AFC Champions League Two, Al Nassr has three consecutive clean sheets: 5-0 vs Istiklol, 2-0 vs Al-Zawraa, 2-1 vs FC Goa. They lead their group with maximum points.
Meanwhile in the Saudi Pro League, they’re unbeaten with 6 straight wins and sit atop the table their best start in years.
The Ticking Time Bomb: What Happens When It Goes Wrong?
But football history is littered with workload management plans that collapsed at the first sign of trouble.
Scenario 1: The Crucial Bench Incident
Al Nassr trail Al Hilal in a title-deciding Saudi Super Cup final. Jesus has rotated Ronaldo out or Ronaldo Rule. The team is losing 1-0. Cameras zoom in on CR7 fuming on the bench, just like he did at Manchester United when Solskjaer tried something similar. The image goes viral. The locker room fractures.
Scenario 2: The Injury Crisis
Sadio Mané and João Felix both get injured. Suddenly the squad depth looks very thin and Jesus, remember, historically plays only 14 regulars anyway. Ronaldo is forced to play 90 minutes three times in a week. He pulls a hamstring. His World Cup 2026 dream dies. He blames Jesus publicly.
Scenario 3: The Trophy Drought Continues
Despite leading the league now, Al Nassr hasn’t won a major trophy since Ronaldo arrived 13 finals without silverware. If they finish trophyless again in May 2026, fans won’t care about “defensive improvements” or “sustainable workload management.” They’ll demand heads. And Jesus, with his history of spectacular fallouts, becomes the scapegoat.
The Verdict: Brilliant… Until It Isn’t
Jorge Jesus’s 75% Ronaldo strategy represents something genuinely novel in modern football: a structured attempt to manage the unmanaageable ego through negotiated compromise rather than managerial diktat.
It’s working brilliantly so far. Al Nassr leads the Saudi Pro League with their best defensive record in years. Ronaldo looks fresh and is scoring freely. The squad is developing tactical depth beyond one superstar.
But the Champions League calendar is long, injuries happen, pressure builds, and both Jorge Jesus and Cristiano Ronaldo have track records of spectacular implosions when their egos collide with reality.
For European football purists, this Saudi experiment offers a valuable lesson: even the greatest tactical minds can’t fully control the human variables. You can build the perfect system, negotiate the perfect compromise, and implement the perfect rotation policy but you can’t remove ego, ambition, and the crushing weight of commercial expectations from the equation.
The 75% rule isn’t just a workload management strategy. It’s a high-stakes gamble on whether two of football’s most combustible personalities a 70-year-old tactical ideologue and a 40-year-old goal-scoring deity can suppress their egos long enough to achieve something neither has managed recently: winning.
By May 2026, we’ll know if Jorge Jesus cracked the code that European managers couldn’t. Or if he simply delayed the inevitable explosion.
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