Ibanez: Al Ahli dam bidding to hold back Al Ittihad in Sea Derby | OneFootball

When you look through the social media profile of Al Ahli defender Roger Ibanez, there are two sides to the 25-year-old Brazilian that become evident.

There is the family man, with the cheeky, vivacious smile, loving the life that comes from living on the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah.

Then there’s the down-to-business footballer, with the steely glaze of determination that saw him ascend to the elite level in Europe with AS Roma. That clear-eyed commitment has carried Ibanez to become one of Al Ahli’s most important players in his 14 months in the Roshn Saudi League.

While this season has been more of a struggle for Al Ahli, the centre-back’s debut campaign in the Kingdom showed exactly why the returning RSL club made him a priority signing when they sealed his move from AS Roma in August of last year.

Ibanez, or “Iba” as he’s affectionately known to those in green and white, slotted into the heart of Al Ahli’s defence like a veteran, and while there were a few moments he’d rather forget – such as his two red cards – on the whole it was an otherwise impressive debut season for the Brazil international.

On the pitch, it could hardly have gone any better for Matthias Jaissle’s side, who were back in the Saudi top flight after a season spent in the second tier following their shock relegation in 2022. It marked their only season spent outside the lead division.

Come the end of the 2023-24 campaign, though, Al Ahli had finished third in the RSL, behind only Al Hilal and Al Nassr. And, importantly for local bragging rights, they came home well clear of Al Ittihad, bettering their cross-town rivals by 11 points.

Al Ahli also possessed one of the best defensive records in the league, conceding only 35 goals across the 34-game campaign; a superior record than even second-placed Al Nassr could manage. It ranked joint-second for the season.

While much was made of the sensational form of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and his 15 clean sheets – the joint-most alongside Al Hilal’s Yassine Bounou – a lot of that credit also needs to go to the defence in front of him, who are just as important in keeping the ball out of the net.

In that, “Iba” more than played his part, with a league-high 62 interceptions across his 30 RSL appearances, highlighting his importance to the success of this Al Ahli side, not just last year but moving forward.

Playing alongside Merih Demiral, who was a standout for Turkiye at this summer’s 2024 European Championships in Germany, certainly doesn’t hurt, with Ibanez able to learn from his more experienced teammate.

Going back to August last year, Ibanez’s move to Al Ahli was ahead of its time, and came as something of a surprise when, aged just 24, he signed on the dotted line. At the time, the Serie A defender was attracting interest from a host of English Premier League sides, including Liverpool and Newcastle United, such were his impressive performances in the Italian capital.

But having seen the transformation taking place in the RSL, Ibanez opted to join the growing number of stars calling Saudi Arabia home. While the trend last summer was for RSL clubs, particularly among the recognised “Big Four”, was to target more established names, Ibanez offered a glimpse into the future.

He may have already been performing to a high level in Serie A but, given his age and couple of campaigns in Italy, there was still plenty of development left in Ibanez. His acquisition at Al Ahli, therefore, was seen as something of a coup for the Jeddah outfit, who also added young Spanish star Gabri Viega as they targeted a slightly different age profile with some of their signings.

Fast forward 12 months, to the most recent summer transfer window, and signing players of a younger age profile was the direction of choice for RSL clubs.

Describing his decision to join Al Ahli, Ibanez said at the time: “I wanted another challenge. I was among the last to arrive in the SPL and the fact that I was preceded by so many great names made me think that the Saudi Pro League has the technical and economic potential to become a major league.

"Today in my team there were three players who won the [UEFA] Champions League, and not just years ago: [Roberto] Firmino, Mendy and [Riyad] Mahrez, the reigning champion. This is going to be a great championship for me, and I'm happy to be here from the start."

With Al Ahli boasting some of the best fans in the league, and throughout Asia, Ibanez was blown away by the passion, describing the club’s supporters and the scenes they create as “spectacular”.

That passion will be on display for the world to see during Thursday night’s Sea Derby, the first of three matches in the RSL’s inaugural Derby Week. On this occasion, Al Ahli are the away side King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.

While there are sure to be fireworks off the pitch, that will also be the case on the pitch, too. Al Ahli are playing to restore their season after a difficult start; they have won three of their eight league matches thus far to sit eighth.

In contrast, Jeddah counterparts Al Ittihad are flying, with seven wins to go into the derby second in the table. Heavily remodelled in the summer, the resurgent 2022-23 champions look set to challenge for silverware again this season.

With captain Karim Benzema a man reborn – his eight goals place him second in the race for the 2024-25 golden boot – and threats also coming in the form of summer recruits Moussa Diaby, Houssem Aouar and Steven Bergwijn, it will be the ultimate test for Ibanez and Al Ahli.

Thanks primarily to that foursome up front, Al Ittihad have the second-most prolific attack in the league at present (21 goals), finding the net at an average of almost three times per game.

It is why Al Ahli, with Ibanez at the heart of their backline, will be presented with a huge challenge on Thursday. The question is whether the smile, so apparent on social media, will be there come the conclusion of the 90 or so minutes.