Flamengo midfielder Diego Ribas, looking out from the roof of the team bus, took the microphone and called for some silence as he addressed the thousands of people gathered for their Copa Libertadores trophy parade.
'I know it is party time,' he said, 'but I would like to remember our 10 boys from the academy. They are part of our achievement. Let's applaud them.'
For the most popular side in Brazil, two moments stopped the country in its track this year: the tragic fire at the training ground in February and Saturday's Copa Libertadores win in Lima.
Fire swept through the unlicensed lodging at the training centre, killing 10 members of the youth team and injuring three more. All 10 of the dead were aged between 14 and 16.
The 10 players were named as Arthur Vinicius de Barros Silva Freitas, 14 (defender), Athila Paixao, 14 (attacker), Bernardo Pisetta, 15 (goalkeeper), Christian Esmerio, 15 (goalkeeper), Gedson Santos, 14 (midfielder), Jorge Eduardo, 15 (left wing), Pablo Henrique, 14 (midfield), Samuel Thomas Rosa, 15 (right back), Vitor Isaias, 15 (forward) and 16-year-old defensive midfielder Rykelmo Vianna, 16.
Rio de Janeiro mayor Marcelo Crivella ordered three days of mourning, and President Jair Bolsonaro issued a statement lamenting the fire had taken 'the young lives at the beginning of pursuing their professional dreams'.
Felipe Cardoso, a midfielder with the under-17 side, gave his account of how he believes the fire started.
'The air conditioner caught fire, and I ran out,' he said. 'Thank God I managed to run and I'm still alive.'
The horror spanned far wider than those left in tears stood outside the training base - parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and grief-stricken supporters.
And so while this happened nine months ago, the wounds are still to heal and the murky handling soured the grieving in the aftermath.
Here were 10 players, many of them expected to be future superstars for club and country, dying as they slept. This was a place Real Madrid star Vinicius Jnr stayed as a young talent.
'What sad News! Praying for everyone! Strength, strength, strength,' Junior wrote on Twitter after hearing of the fire.
'What a shock getting this news here on the other side of the world,' Brazilian legend Zico wrote on Instagram. 'May the Red-and-Black nation have strength and faith to get through this moment.'
The club were quickly accused of negligence for keeping open a training centre which did not have the proper fire and safety permits.
In 2015, prosecutors in the Brazilian capital sued the club over the conditions at its training ground. Child-protection failures were cited, with prosecutors claiming the conditions were, at that time, 'even worse than those currently offered to juvenile delinquents.'
Rio city hall had ordered the facility, where the club's first team and youth players train, to close in October 2017 but the order was never carried out as the club reportedly spent millions by way of upgrades.
The City hall went on record to add back in February that the club had been fined 30 times for various infractions at its Ninho do Urubu training centre before the fire took 10 lives.
Location of the dormitory, holding 26 people on the night of the fire, was licensed as a car park, rather than accommodation for the players, a move which brought immense criticism to the club's executives in the investigation that followed the fire.
The New York Times reported in April that the dormitory 'was a makeshift structure, consisting of six steel containers fused together' which had not received approval from local bodies.
A former player, who spent 10 years at the club, told ITV earlier this year: 'Flamengo has always been a negligent club with its grassroots divisions.
'The structure for their young people is ridiculous and very risky compared to that of their professionals.'
The tragedy, club president Rodolfo Landim called 'the biggest in Flamengo's 123-year history', shook the entire country to its core, making their focus back on the pitch even more remarkable.
The club have looked to ensure those who died and those who were injured are not forgotten. Jonathan Ventura, one of those teenagers injured on the night of February 8, was brought on the pitch in April to pose with the trophy after they won Rio's annual Campeonato Carioca tournament.
But on Saturday, when the final whistle blew and they had ended their 38-year wait for a Libertadores win, fans were reduced to tears for a multitude of reasons.
The success and the elation mirrored the tragedy and sadness 2019 has been for Flamengo.
River Plate went in as unquestionable favourites for the game in Peru as they looked to defend the title they won 12 months prior by beating Boca Juniors at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
In fact, Flamengo's only previous win was in 1981 when Zico was the team's star. It had been a long wait for such a passionately-supported club to taste similar success.
With two minutes remaining it appeared their 38-year would go on, River Plate holding on to a narrow lead courtesy of Rafael Santos Borre's first half strike.
But there was to be divine intervention from Inter Milan reject Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa with two late goals to complete a famous turnaround for the black and reds.
Then, without kicking another ball, the club claimed their seventh Brazilian Serie A title after closest rivals Palmeiras slipped up away to Gremio.
Their decade-long wait for a league title was ending. A lot of chapters were closed and the club was enjoying one of its most successful seasons in recent decades with the backdrop of its worst tragedy.
While, as Ribas put it, fans sought the 'party time' atmosphere in the celebrations that followed, it will be events in February, rather than a Libertadores win, that go on to shape the club's future.