Retired since 2016, the Brazilian Adriano, former Inter Milan striker, spoke this Tuesday about his descent into hell and his problem with alcohol.
He is a player that everyone loved and admired. Former striker for Inter Milan and the Brazilian team, Adriano (42 years old) currently lives in the Vila Cruzeiro favela in Rio de Janeiro, where he grew up.
In a long testimony published Tuesday, November 12 on the website The Players' Tribune, he spoke of his days drinking and playing cards.
“I am the biggest waste in football,” said the man who was nicknamed during his splendor, the Imperatore (the emperor). I love that word, waste. Not only because of how it sounds, but also because I'm obsessed with wasting my life. I'm fine like that, in frenzied waste. I like this stigma. I don't do drugs, like they try to say. I'm not a criminal, although I could have been. I don't like nightclubs. I always hang out at the same place in my neighborhood, Naná's kiosk. If you want to meet me, come see me there.”
His father's death broke him
For several weeks, videos published on social networks, on X in particular, show Adriano completely drunk hanging out in his favela. “I drink every day. How does someone like me end up drinking almost every day? I don't like giving explanations to others. But here's one: I drink because it's not easy to be a promise gone into debt. And it’s even worse at my age,” he continued.
In his testimony, the four-time Italian champion with Inter Milan (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) also spoke of his first experience with alcohol. “I remember the first time my father surprised me with a drink in my hand,” he explains. I was 14 and everyone in our community was partying. […] At the time, I didn't drink. But when I saw all these young people… […] I took a plastic cup and filled it with beer. This fine and bitter foam which went down my throat for the first time had a particular flavor. A new world of pleasure opened up to me. My mother was at the party and saw the scene. She didn't say anything. My father… Fucking shit.”
The Brazilian also confided that the death of his father, killed by a gunshot to the head when he was 10 years old, changed his life forever. “Even today, it’s a problem that I still haven’t managed to overcome,” summarizes the former Flamengo striker. A truly wasted talent.
