A historic coach and an Asian dream: five setbacks colour the Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr clásico in the shades of revenge

It all began with the first match of last season, when Al-Nassr faced Al-Ittihad in Hong Kong in the semi-final of the Saudi Super Cup.

Al-Nassr beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 to reach the final, only to lose to Al-Ahli on penalties.

That night cost Al-Ittihad more than a place in the final. It also snatched away a golden chance to complete the domestic treble for the first time in their history.

Before that match, Al-Ittihad had been crowned with the domestic double for the first time in their history, combining the Saudi Roshn League and the King's Cup. Al-Nassr then denied them the treble in the Super Cup.

Defeat in the Super Cup was the first nail Al-Nassr drove into the coffin of French coach Laurent Blanc at Al-Ittihad. They soon hammered in the final one themselves.

It all came to a head on 26 September last year. The two sides met in the fourth round of the Roshn League, and Al-Nassr ran out 2-0 winners.

That loss was Al-Ittihad's first in the Roshn League after three straight wins. The management didn't wait for the following match: they sacked Blanc from his role as technical director on the spot.

Having won the domestic double, Blanc left Al-Ittihad in the worst possible fashion. The Saudi club then endured a period of turmoil under Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao, who failed to restore the glory of his French predecessor.

The fallout was brutal. The Tigers limped to fifth in the Roshn League, crashed out of the King's Cup at the semi-final stage and bowed out of the AFC Champions League Elite in the quarter-finals.

Beating Al-Ittihad in the first round wasn't enough for Al-Nassr. They did it again in the second, another win by the very same scoreline.

What hurt Al-Ittihad wasn't just the defeat but the manner of it. Al-Nassr had now beaten "Al-Ameed" three times in a single season, and this time they managed it without their Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo had stayed away from matches during that period, protesting at the strong backing given to Al-Hilal in the last winter transfer window. Not even the Al-Ittihad classico could tempt him to break that protest.

His absence made no difference. Al-Nassr got the job done, beating Al-Ittihad home and away in the Saudi league for the sixth time since the professional era began in the 2008-2009 season.

Al-Ittihad exacted a smaller measure of revenge in the King's Cup, beating Al-Nassr 2-1 to knock them out in the round of 16.

That elimination cost Al-Nassr dear. Chief among the missed opportunities was the chance to complete a domestic double, all the more painful given that "Al-Alami" reclaimed the Saudi league title at the end of the season after a seven-year wait.

Al-Nassr got their hands back on the league crown, but Al-Ittihad blocked their path to the same in the King's Cup, a competition they haven't won for almost 36 years, since 1990.

Al-Ittihad couldn't finish the job either. They bowed out in the semi-final, losing to Al-Khaleej on penalties in a heavyweight shock.

Al-Nassr suffered the biggest defeat of last season, and it came not at the hands of Al-Ittihad itself but their current coach, the German Jens Wissing.

The date was 16 May. At Al-Awwal Park Stadium in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Al-Nassr hosted Japanese side Gamba Osaka in the final of the AFC Champions League Two.

Every prediction before the match pointed to a historic Al-Nassr win, given the gulf in resources between them and the Japanese club. Al-Ittihad's current coach had other ideas.

Wissing, then in charge of Gamba Osaka, guided the Japanese side to their first AFC Champions League Two crown in their history with a historic 1-0 win over Al-Nassr.

That single goal denied Al-Nassr the AFC Champions League Two title for the first time in their history, and robbed them of what would have been their first Asian trophy in 28 years, since lifting the Continental Super Cup in 1998.

Now Wissing returns to face Al-Nassr, this time with Al-Ittihad. On his shoulders sits the task of bringing down "Al-Alami" for the first time this season, just as he did for the last time at the end of the last one.

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