Club is the first to reach the milestone in National Championships
GLOBOESPORTE.COM Rio de Janeiro
One of five Brazilian clubs to have played in Brazil's top flight since the creation of the Brazilian Championship in 1971 (along with Cruzeiro, Inter, Santos, and São Paulo), Flamengo reaches a historic milestone this Sunday. With the match against Santos at Vila Belmiro, the Rio de Janeiro club becomes the first club to play 1.000 matches in the Brazilian Serie A.
Futpédia: check out Flamengo's numbers in the Brazilian Championship
The Gávea club's history in the Nationals began on August 8, 1971. In its first game in the competition, Fla lost to Sport at Ilha do Retiro (1-0). But despite the initial stumble, the Gávea club has one of the most successful records in Brazilian football's top competition.
In 999 matches, the team has 416 wins (41,6% of the total), 276 draws and 307 losses. The club scored 1.381 goals and conceded 1.131. \ In National Championships, Flamengo reached the finals five times, including the final of the 87 Copa União. And they lifted the trophy on every occasion. \
The first time the club reached a Brazilian Championship final was in 1980, already with the base of the team that would become world club champion the following year. After losing the first leg of the final to Atlético-MG 1-0 at Mineirão, Rubro-Negro celebrated at Maracanã in front of 154 paying fans, winning the final 3-2, with two goals from Nunes and one from Zico (remember in the video above).
It was the first of three national titles in four years. In 82 and 83, the team won the Brasileirão again, defeating Grêmio and Santos in the finals, respectively.
In 1987, still with Zico and counting on other Brazilian national team players, such as Bebeto, Renato Gaúcho, Jorginho, Leandro, Edinho, Leonardo and Zinho, Flamengo reached the final of the Copa União and beat Taffarel's Inter (1-1 in Porto Alegre and 1-0 in Rio).
The Club of 13's decision that the finalists of the so-called Green Module should not face the top two teams from the Yellow Module in a final quadrangular meant that the CBF did not officially recognize Flamengo as the national champion, but rather Sport, winner of the yellow group.
In addition to the finals, Flamengo has played other notable matches in its Brazilian Championship. In the 1985 National Championship, the Red-Black team thrashed Botafogo 6-1. The standout performer of the match was left-back Adalberto, who scored two goals (remember in the video above).
Another local classic that was memorable for the red-blacks took place on December 2, 89. The club's penultimate game in the Brasileirão that year was the official farewell to the club's greatest idol. With a 5-0 thrashing of Fluminense in Juiz de Fora (MG), and with a goal from Zico, on a free kick, opening the scoring (in the video next door).
Flamengo's all-time top scorer, Zico also scored his first of his 509 goals for Flamengo's main team in a National Championship match: in a 1-1 draw with Bahia, in the Rubro-Negro's second game in the Nationals, on August 11, 1971.
In another Rio derby in the Brasileiros, Flamengo suffered a defeat that affected the club's fans for almost a decade. In the second edition of the competition, in 1972, Flamengo lost to Botafogo 6-0. The rout occurred on the Gávea club's anniversary: November 15th. Nine years later, Flamengo would return the score in a Carioca match.