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, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, 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 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 football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

Club career

Born in Itá near

Asunción Asunción (, ) 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 Asunción in the north ...

, Arrúa made his senior debuts at only 14, with local Sportivo Iteño. He was signed shortly after by Cerro Porteño, 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 Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and joined

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

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

. 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 ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

, formed an efficient attacking partnership with countrymen Carlos Diarte 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 primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

with América de Cali. Subsequently, he worked as a manager, with Club 12 de Octubre, Club Atlético 3 de Febrero and Cerro.

International career

Arrúa gained 27 caps for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

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

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrua, Saturnino 1949 births Living people Paraguayan men's 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 men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Paraguayan football managers 12 de Octubre Football Club managers People from Itá, Paraguay Footballers from Central Department Cerro Porteño managers Club 2 de Mayo managers