Arrascaeta surpasses Modesto Bría as Flamengo great who paved way for Zico and Júnior | OneFootball

Coming on late, Arrascaeta made his 370th Flamengo appearance, surpassing Paraguayan idol Modesto Bría as the club's most capped foreign player. He also scored in a 2-0 win over Cusco in Peru on Wednesday, the club's Libertadores 2026 debut.

According to Globo.com, Bría is a landmark figure in the club's history, a three-time Carioca champion whose arrival at Gávea owed much to famed broadcaster Ary Barroso.

Composer of Aquarela do Brasil, Barroso was a famed Flamengo supporter and broadcaster in the 1930s and 1940s. He described the 1944 clinching of the club's first Carioca three-peat and joined the players on the pitch.

Active in club politics, he even served on the board. In 1943 he flew to Paraguay to persuade Nacional to release Bría to Flamengo, while Fluminense tracked the Paraguay international.

Bría played 369 games for Flamengo to 1953, with 204 wins, 92 defeats, 73 draws and eight goals. He formed a trio with Biguá and Jaime de Almeida, key to that first Carioca three-peat.

After retiring, he coached Flamengo in four spells, overseeing 110 games, with 63 wins, 26 defeats and 21 draws.

In 1967 he approved a slight youngster nicknamed Zico, brought by broadcaster Celso Garcia. He also invited Maestro Júnior for trials after beach football, and persuaded Mozer to switch from forward to centre-back.

Born in Encarnación, Paraguay, he died in Rio de Janeiro on 30 August 1996, aged 74.

Source: Globo.com