Flamengo star Giorgian De Arrascaeta “went viral” on social media this week!
The reason, however, was a bit unusual: a “nickname” that sparked intense debate online: “Arrascapenalty.”
Confused? Come with us and OneFootball will explain it to you!
The expression was born during a sports debate show on the UOL portal, while journalists were analyzing a possible penalty in the match between Palmeiras and Sporting Cristal involving Vitor Roque.
The discussion began when Juca Kfouri said that, in his view, there had been a penalty in the match.
Right after that, Danilo Lavieri described the play as “an Arrascaeta-style penalty,” arguing that the player merely felt the contact and threw himself to the ground.
To sum up his fellow panelist’s comment, journalist Eduardo Tironi “coined” the expression “Arrascapenalty.”
The repercussions even reached Wikipedia
The term burst out of the sports journalism bubble and went viral when actor Dan Stulbach used the word on his social media.
While commenting on the intensity of a Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester City, Stulbach criticized Brazilian football.
He praised the European match for having “little complaining” and being a game played with attitude, “with no arrascapenalty or arrascafoul.”
The post boosted the expression, generating a wave of memes online.
The nickname was even added to the Uruguayan player’s biography on Wikipedia, a platform that allows open editing by any user, but the excerpt was removed shortly afterward.
On social media, people blamed columnist Mauro Cézar Pereira.
Mixed reactions on social media
The popularization of “Arrascapenalty” heated things up online and generated very different reactions.
Journalist Mauro Cezar Pereira harshly criticized the expression, accusing rival fans of trying to unfairly and exclusively associate with the Uruguayan a practice (“diving”) that is constantly used by several players in the country.
Mauro also mocked the situation, saying that they had actually tried to rename the term “Brazilian-style penalty,” an expression created by himself about two decades ago.
Flamengo fans, in turn, overwhelmingly rejected the nickname.
But since Arrascaeta is one of the biggest winners in Fla’s history, the rubro-negros also took the opportunity to take some digs at their rivals!
On the other hand, rival fans and part of the public immediately embraced the term, making the episode yet another chapter in the traditional culture of banter and humor surrounding Brazilian football rivalries.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
