Jorge Jesus, the veteran Portuguese coach, has returned to Benfica.
He returns to the position where he experienced much success between 2009 and 2015, winning three Portuguese championships. He leaves Flamengo after spending a little more than a year, but despite the short spell he became one of the greatest coaches to set foot in the Rio de Janeiro club.
Jesus arrived at Flamengo in early June 2019. After negotiating with Atlético Mineiro and the team's rival, Vasco. Eventually, he agreed to join Flamengo after coach Abel Braga resigned. There, he started a relationship that lasted just over a year, but that was extremely intense and victorious.
Jorge Jesus, known as “Mister” by the Flamengo fans, coached the team in 57 games, yielding a stupendous success rate of 81.3%: 43 victories, 10 draws and only 4 losses. In addition, he won five titles: the Rio de Janeiro State Championship, Brazilian SuperCup, Recopa Sudamericana, Brazilian championship and Copa Libertadores.
The last two were undoubtedly the most striking. In the Brazilian championship, a competition that Flamengo has not won since 2009, he collected 90 of the 114 possible points, winning the title with 16 points ahead of the runner-up.
In the Copa Libertadores, a title that the team has not won since 1981 when it had the great idol, Zico, Flamengo was magical. They clinched the title in the final against River Plate with two goals in the last few minutes.
Despite losing the Club World Cup to Liverpool, no Flamengo fan remained frustrated with Jesus. He justified the high investment involved in his hiring, to bring out the most of a squad considered one of the best in Brazilian football.
More than the titles, he gave Flamengo a standard of play. He made the team play a beautiful game, pleasant to watch. His team accumulated rivals and, over the last year, played some great games: a 5-0 against Grêmio in the semifinals of Libertadores, 4-1 in Vasco, the team's biggest rival, 4-1 against Corinthians.
Jesus managed to empower several players in the squad. Gabriel Barbosa became a scoring machine under his command; Bruno Henrique evolved into one of the best wings in Brazil; Rodrigo Caio was once again a great defender and became a fundamental part of the squad. In addition, Jesus brought Pablo Marí, a relatively unknown defender, and made his a pillar in his defensive squad. After being bought for less than 2 million euros, Marí was sold to Arsenal for 16 million euros after spending only six months at Flamengo.
The Portuguese coach was a revolutionary in Brazilian football. While most of the teams in the country play pragmatic and boring to watch football, Flamengo played great under his command, which made even those who were not a fan of the team stop what were doing to appreciate it.
Flamengo is interested in several foreign names to fulfil his position. Carlos Carvalhal, who made a big campaign with Rio Ave from Portugal, is a possible candidate. Leonardo Jardim from Monaco, now clubless, is another alternative. Domènec Torrent and Fernando Hierro are other names that are considered by the director of the team.
Even if the team hires one of these four great coaches, none will be equal to “Mister”. With his charismatic and revolutionary way, Jorge Jesus won not only titles for Flamengo, but also the hearts of every fan of the team. The supporters are mourning his departure.
Flamengo must not fail to be a competitive team: a good coach must come and keep up the squad’s momentum, being one of the best in all of America. However, Jesus was a man who identified himself so much with the fans that not even Pep Guardiola could heal the wounds left in fans’ hearts with the departure of Jesus
Despite leaving, his name is recorded forever in the club's history. He made many fans proud of supporting Flamengo and implemented a philosophy in the team that can last for years.
Photo courtesy of Flamengo official website.
