Flamengo's first professional goalkeeper – and one with the best performance against Fluminense in the club's history – turns 101 today. Fernando Ferreira Botelho, known as Fernadinho, stepped onto the Maracanã pitch for the first time in the tribute he received last Saturday (March 01.03st), before the match against Nova Iguaçu. Having played in the 1930s, he never played a match at the Biggest Stadium in the World, which was built only 20 years later, in June 1950.

The former goalkeeper represented Flamengo in 62 matches from 1930 to 1934, but only turned professional in 1933: before that, Fernandinho had played for the club for free. That year, he was Flamengo's goalkeeper on what was the club's first tour outside Brazil, to Uruguay. Knee problems brought his career to a premature end when he was just 21 years old. The goalkeeper never won a single title as a professional, only winning in the youth teams, but he holds the distinction of boasting the best goals-against average in the history of the classic, a match in which he remained undefeated throughout his career. His record against the team from Laranjeiras is impeccable. Fernandinho made his debut for the first team in the final round of the 1931 Carioca Championship, in their first Fla-Flus victory, 1-0, when Flamengo had not beaten Fluminense since September 1928. 

The former goalkeeper recounts that in 1919, when he was just six years old, he witnessed a historic defeat between Flamengo and Flu: a 4-0 rout that secured the Tricolor's third state championship (1917-18-19). In 1932, now Flamengo's starting goalkeeper, Fernandinho got his revenge on the Tricolor, beating his rival by the same score as in 1919 – he says that was the best game of his life.