The bottom two teams in the Brasileiro Serie A will square off on Monday as Sport Recife seek their first triumph of the league season when they head to Estadio Alfredo Jaconi for a date with Juventude.

A 2-0 loss to Gremio at the beginning of June dropped Juve down to 19th in the table, five points above Recife, who were beaten 1-0 by Mirassol in their previous league fixture.

Match preview

After over a month without any football matches, Juventude return to the pitch on Monday, looking to put an end to a lengthy eight-match winless run in league play.

Even with their poor run of form, Claudio Tencati will see this upcoming stretch as an opportunity for his side to make up some ground, with three of their next four league fixtures taking place at Estadio Alfredo Jaconi.

All eight of their points accumulated in Serie A this year have occurred at home, while they are a mere three points below the relegation line and have a game in hand on Fortaleza, Internacional and Vitoria, the three sides directly above them in the table.

During the lengthy break away from the field, they would have been best served to work on their defensive structure, with Verdao conceding a league-high 24 goals in the competition this year.

After 11 domestic encounters played in 2025, the club from Caxias do Sul have picked up a mere eight points, five fewer than they had at this stage of the 2024 campaign.

Monday will mark the seventh time they host Recife in a competitive fixture, and in those previous six instances Juve failed to lose, coming away with a 2-2 result the last time out in 2023.

Three years on from their previous stint in the Brazilian top flight (2021) it appears as though things have only got worse for Sport Recife in the Brasileiro Serie A this time around.

The club from Pernambuco are the only winless side in the league thus far, accumulating just three points from 11 games, six fewer than they had at that stage in 2021, when they were relegated to the second tier.

Just one of their three points accumulated in the competition so far came when they were the visiting team, with Daniel Paulista’s men losing five in a row away from home, one fewer than their longest road losing run in Serie A three years ago.

Last year, this team netted the joint second-most goals in Serie B (57), but scoring has not been so easy for them in the top flight, with Recife netting a league-low five times in 2025.

On a few occasions this season, they have failed to lock down a game that was in their hands, dropping seven points domestically when leading after 45 minutes, including two defeats away from home.

While they have yet to win an away contest at Juventude, Leao have points in their previous three meetings against them, coming from a goal behind twice in their last visit to Estadio Alfredo Jaconi in 2023, netting the equaliser in second-half stoppage time.

Juventude Brasileiro form:

Sport Recife Brasileiro Serie A form:

Sport Recife form (all competitions):

Team News

In their defeat versus Gremio the last time out, Juventude were missing goalkeeper Gustavo and centre-back Cipriano, both of whom are dealing with hamstring injuries.

There were two changes made to their starting 11 from matchday 10 to 11 as Nene and Gabriel Pereira Taliari came into the fold in place of Gilberto and their skipper Jadson.

On the Recife side, Gabriel is dealing with a muscle issue, Ze Roberto is recovering from torn knee ligaments, Denis has a knee injury and Goncalo Paciencia is questionable with a sore thigh.

Only one new face came into the starting 11 for them between matchday 10 to 11 of this competition, with Du Queiroz replacing Sergio Oliveira in the midfield against Mirassol.

Juventude possible starting lineup:

Marcao; Ewerthon, Sam, Paulo, Ruschel; Goncalves, Mandaca; Batalla, Babi, Enio; Gilberto

Sport Recife possible starting lineup:

Franca; Cunha, Carlos, Chico; Hereda, Rivera, Lucas, Alberto; Lima, Barletta; Pablo

We say: Juventude 0-0 Sport Recife

Both sides are desperate to get out of their current funk, but neither possesses enough creativity nor quality to find those solutions, which is why we project a dull stalemate between the two on Monday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

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