lit a candle 4h agoso my dad used to put on these old Zaragoza DVDs on a sunday, god knows where he got them, and there was this grainy clip of a Brazilian lad scoring in Belfast of all places, 1962, against Glentoran, and dad would say that's the first one, that's the one that started it all for them in Europe. took me years to realise the player was Duca. he died at 92 and I only properly looked him up today, Flamengo, three Carioca titles in the fifties, Copa del Rey in 64 too, but it's that Belfast goal that stuck with me because of dad. anyway. 92 is a good innings as they say here. sorry, rambling, just sad in a strange way for someone I never really knew anything about until an hour ago
Their story
Adrualdo Barroso da Silva, known throughout his career as Duca, was a Brazilian footballer who scored the first European goal in Real Zaragoza history and won major trophies with Flamengo and Zaragoza. He died on 15 August 2026 at the age of 92. Real Zaragoza announced his death and offered…
Adrualdo Barroso da Silva, known throughout his career as Duca, was a Brazilian footballer who scored the first European goal in Real Zaragoza history and won major trophies with Flamengo and Zaragoza. He died on 15 August 2026 at the age of 92. Real Zaragoza announced his death and offered condolences to his family.
Born in Recife on 4 May 1934, Duca came through America-PE and Flamengo's youth ranks. For Flamengo between 1953 and 1958 he made 119 appearances and scored 42 goals, sharing in three Campeonato Carioca titles in 1953, 1954 and 1955. Standing about 1.71 metres, he played as a forward with the close control of an attacking midfielder. A strong showing for Flamengo at the 1958 Teresa Herrera Trophy in Spain brought him to the attention of Real Zaragoza, which signed him for 525,000 pesetas after two matches that weekend.
At Zaragoza from 1958 to 1965 he became the club's first Brazilian player. He played 98 league matches, all as a starter, and scored 31 goals. On 26 September 1962, away to Glentoran at The Oval in Belfast in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, he scored the goal that made him Zaragoza's first scorer in European competition after an own goal had opened the scoring in a 2-0 win. In 1963-64 he was part of the side that won both the Copa del Generalisimo (today's Copa del Rey) and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the double associated with the Magnificos generation. After leaving Zaragoza he spent a final season at Mallorca before returning to Brazil.
Spanish obituaries remembered an elegant forward who won over La Romareda and the surrounding towns, and who said years later that leaving Zaragoza had hurt more than leaving Brazil. Club statements called him a Cup and Fairs Cup champion and a landmark name in Zaragoza's European record. Across Flamengo and Spain he finished with more than 230 recorded appearances and around 74 goals. He remains a reference point whenever Zaragoza lists the Brazilians and European pioneers who shaped the club after the war. No cause of death was made public.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), Real Zaragoza statement, El Periodico de Aragon and Hoy Aragon. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
1Duca (Adrualdo Barroso da Silva) in a Real Zaragoza portrait
by People Forever
that Glentoran game gets forgotten, good that someone remembers it