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Vissing outsmarts Postecoglou in the Clasico as Ronaldo is there but not truly involved.

It was an excellent performance from the young German.

Hardly anybody expected Jens Fessing to approach the Nassr-Ittihad Clasico this way. Before kick-off, most forecasts suggested the Al-Ameed coach would be highly cautious, sit deep in his own half and depend on counter-attacks against a team packed with elite attacking names.

Instead, the young coach chose to surprise everyone. He entered the match with real bravery, ordering an aggressive and sustained press from the opening minutes to heap pressure on Al-Nassr and prevent them from building play in their usual style.

Vissing shocks Al-Nassr and hits them from the inside.

Al-Ittihad were not content with merely pressing the player on the ball. They also shut down most of the passing lanes available to Al-Nassr, won a high number of individual duels and recovered possession in advanced zones.

The side operated as one compact unit, so the moment possession was lost, the press began instantly. With Bergwijn and Al-Ghamdi positioned high before drifting into central pockets, Al-Nassr found it extremely difficult to move the ball from one line to the next. It was therefore no surprise that the Global Club could not play the ball out properly for around the opening 22 minutes.

That pressure paid off early through George Ilenikhena's goal in the fourth minute. More importantly, the strike was not an isolated moment detached from the flow of the game. It came directly from the superiority Al-Ittihad imposed from the very beginning.

Ilenikhena found the room he needed behind Al-Nassr's back line, taking advantage of the defence stepping up and the whole team pushing forward to give the Dean an early advantage that forced their opponents to rethink matters quickly.

Look at Ilenikhena himself. The Nigerian forward was the perfect weapon for Vieceng's plan because he thrives on running in behind defenders and exploiting open spaces, which was exactly the route through which Al-Ittihad wanted to hurt Al-Nassr.

In the 22nd minute, the striker struck again with a superb finish that underlined his superiority. It took his overall career brace tally to 10 and, at the same time, showed just how successful Vieceng had been in using his centre-forward's strengths properly against a high defensive line.

Al-Ittihad's attack was not driven by direct balls alone. Their control of midfield also helped make the route to Al-Nassr's goal easier. Lobbe and Mukhtar imposed themselves in the central battle area, while Bergwijn and Al-Ghamdi moved inside to create a numerical edge. That pulled Al-Nassr's lines away from each other and reduced the space available for them to build organised attacks.

Ronaldo there but absent: Postecoglou pays the price.

One of the clearest issues for Al-Nassr was connected to Cristiano Ronaldo, not only because of what he offered in attack, but also because of how his presence affected the team's entire pressing structure.

Ronaldo was unable to apply constant pressure on Al-Ittihad's defenders. That gave Danilo Pereira in particular more time and space to receive possession and start attacks from the back without any serious disturbance. On several occasions, Al-Ittihad were able to begin their moves calmly and then progress the ball into the zones they wanted without facing the pressure Al-Nassr needed in order to force errors.

From a tactical point of view, Ronaldo could be described as present yet absent. His presence on the pitch gave Al-Nassr one of the most dangerous strikers in world football. At the same time, it made the team look as though they were one player short in the press whenever Al-Ittihad's back line had the ball.

The issue is not the player's quality or his capacity to score goals. The problem is that the nature of this match demanded continuous collective pressing, and Ronaldo was not able to provide that in the required way.

Postecoglou could have dealt with this by reshaping the press or tightening the distances between the lines. He did not find the right answer at the right moment, especially after Al-Ittihad had already scored twice.

With the Dean continuing to dominate the first third of the contest, Al-Nassr were forced into chasing the game instead of controlling it. That made the challenge far more difficult against a side that knew exactly where the spaces were and how to exploit them.

Fesing also made perfect use of the forward surges of Al-Nassr's full-backs. His players sent long passes into the space behind them as soon as they regained possession, opening huge areas for Al-Ittihad to move from defence into attack.

That was the clearest proof that the Dean's coach did not stop at merely identifying Al-Nassr's weaknesses. He also turned their attacking strengths into weak points. Every time the two full-backs pushed on, fresh space appeared behind them ready to be attacked. Every time Al-Nassr lost the ball, Al-Ittihad were able to get quickly towards their goal.

Al-Nassr regain their balance as Vincent changes the plan.

Around the half-hour mark, Al-Nassr gradually recovered their balance and started dealing better with Al-Ittihad's pressure. Al-Alami kept the ball with greater comfort and began reaching the final third more regularly.

That improvement was reflected on the scoreboard. Angelo reduced the deficit in the 36th minute, giving his team a major lift and pulling the game back into a much more complicated state before half-time.

Angelo's goal showed that Al-Nassr were beginning to find solutions, and that if Al-Ittihad continued pressing with the same intensity they risked leaving spaces for their opponents. At that point, the other side of Vieceli's personality emerged. He refused to treat his lead as a reason to keep taking risks. In the second half, he altered his team's shape and dropped deeper, placing his trust in transitions and in the spaces Al-Nassr would leave while pushing for an equaliser.

That adjustment changed the nature of the game after the break. Al-Nassr had the initiative, the possession and the pressure, while Al-Ittihad defended in a compact block and waited for chances to break forward.

The logic was straightforward. One goal behind, Al-Nassr had to send more players forward, which opened spaces Al-Ittihad could attack on the counter. Vieceli protected his advantage without ever needing to take an unnecessary gamble.

Late in the match, he further leaned into Al-Nassr's nature by bringing on Youssef En-Nesyri and focusing on crosses and deliveries into the penalty area.

The introduction of the Moroccan striker made complete sense given how the match had evolved. Al-Ittihad now had to survive sustained Al-Nassr pressure, and En-Nesyri could thrive on aerial service and movement inside the box, while also providing an additional outlet on the counter as the spaces behind Al-Nassr's defence grew larger.

In the closing stages, the young coach trusted transitions fully and left possession entirely to Al-Nassr, sealing the result on merit.