Saturnino 'Nino' Arrúa Molinas (born 7 April 1949) is a Paraguayan retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and a current coach. Considered one of the greatest footballers to ever come out of his nation, his 22-year professional career was closely associated with

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its presi ...

and

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

Club career

Born in Itá near

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, Arrúa made his senior debuts at only 14, with local

Sportivo Iteño Sportivo Iteño is a Paraguayan football club based in the city of Itá, in Asunción. The club was founded on June 1, 1924 and plays in the Paraguayan División Intermedia The División Intermedia ( en, Intermediate Division), also known as ...

. He was signed shortly after by

, going on to win four national championships four times during his spell as well as being crowned the league's top scorer on three occasions. In 1973 Arrúa moved to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and joined

, remaining six seasons with the club, five of them in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

. He scored 17 goals in only 26 games in his first campaign for a final third-place and, during parts of his stint in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...

, formed an efficient attacking partnership with countrymen

Carlos Diarte Carlos Martínez Diarte (26 January 1954 – 29 June 2011), better known as Lobo, was a Paraguayan football striker and coach. Career As player Diarte started his career in Olimpia Asunción and at the age of 16 he made his debut in the prof ...

and Felipe Ocampos which was dubbed ''Zaraguayos''. From 1979 until his retirement six years later Arrúa played mainly with former side Cerro Porteño – this was interspersed with a spell in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

with

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

. Subsequently, he worked as a manager, with

Club 12 de Octubre 12 de Octubre Football Club is a Paraguayan football club from the city of Itauguá that currently plays in the División Intermedia, the second division of Football in Paraguay. Founded in 1914, the club's home venue is Estadio Luis Alberto Sa ...

Club Atlético 3 de Febrero Club Atlético 3 de Febrero is a professional Paraguayan football club from Ciudad del Este, the capital city of the department of Alto Paraná. The club was founded in 1970, and named after St. Blaise Day, a national holiday throughout many Hi ...

and Cerro.

International career

Arrúa gained 27

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

between 1969 and 1980, scoring 13 goals.Appearances for Paraguay National Team
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrua, Saturnino 1949 births Living people Paraguayan footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Paraguayan Primera División players Cerro Porteño players La Liga players Segunda División players Real Zaragoza players Categoría Primera A players América de Cali footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Colombia Paraguayan football managers 12 de Octubre Football Club managers People from Itá, Paraguay