🤯 Even with Vagner Love on the pitch, team suffer relegation to Série D

2024 Série D champion and this year’s Pernambucano runner-up, Retrô – filled with veterans in its squad – is already back in the Fourth Division of Brazilian football.

Founded in 2016 and collecting good results – it was also state runner-up in 2022 and 2023 -, Fênix drew 1-1 with ABC this Sunday (24), at Arena Pernambuco.

Reached 14 points and can no longer reach Anápolis, which reached 20 and is 16th. There is only one round left for both.

Retrô “repeats” Ferroviário, who took Série D in 2023 and fell in Série C last year.

Tombense (13) was already relegated. ABC (18) and Itabaiana (19) complete the relegation zone. And will face each other on Saturday (30).

Retrô, who took to the field, counted on Vagner Love, 41, and hired during the competition, Fernandinho, 39, ex-Flamengo, São Paulo and Grêmio, and Rômulo, 34, ex-Vasco, Flamengo and Grêmio.

Another highlight is Fabinho, 38, with passages through Internacional, Ceará, Botafogo and Sport.

Love arrived at Retrô with the mission of making a difference. But he has only one goal in 11 games.

He was at Avaí and also defended Atlético-GO and Sport since he returned to play in Brazil.

The campaign of the Pernambuco club in the Third Division was bad from the start. He only won three times and went blank in 13 games.

It is, with seven goals scored, the team with the least effective attack in the competition.

Caxias, Náutico, Ponte Preta, Londrina and São Bernardo are already classified.

Several teams are fighting for the last three spots.

Highlights for the comebacks of Belo, Confiança – which is still a finalist in the Copa do Nordeste -, Guarani and Figueirense.

The next phase will have two groups with four teams each, with games in a round-robin format. The division will be: 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th in one group. And 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th in the other.

The top two guarantee access. And the leaders of each key dispute the cup.

The fight to not occupy the two remaining places in Série D-2026 is also intense.

The 18th round still has two games on this Monday (24).

The final one will be next Saturday (30).

See below the updated classification and, later, what’s left.

19h30 – Guarani x Confiança – Brinco de Ouro da Princesa

19h30 – CSA x Ponte Preta – Rei Pelé

Todos os jogos a partir das 17h (de Brasília)

Náutico x Ituano – Aflitos

Ponte Preta x Londrina – Moisés Lucarelli

Confiança x Retrô – Batistão

Tombense x Guarani – Antônio Guimarães de Almeida

Anápolis x Botafogo-PB – Jonas Duarte

Maringá x Caxias – Willie Davids

Ypiranga-RS x Figueirense – Colosso da Lagoa

Brusque x CSA – Augusto Bauer

Floresta x São Bernardo – Domingão

ABC x Itabaiana – Casa de Apostas Arena das Dunas

Featured photo: Reproduction/Retrô

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.