Played in front of more than 20,000 spectators, this jubilee, which pitted the “legends” of Flamengo, Adriano's training club, against the “Friends of Italy”, ended with a 4 to 3 victory for the former, in the presence of several former Seleçao players, including Romario. Now aged 42, Adriano Leite Ribeiro, nicknamed “the Imperatore” (“the Emperor”) during his time of splendor in the early 2000s, scored for each of the two teams, alongside his son Adrianinho.
A very moving surprise
But the great moment of emotion was quite different. The meeting was interrupted several minutes after a message from his father who died in 2004, generated by artificial intelligence. The attacker could not hold back his tears when hearing his father's words twenty years after his death.
In AFP photos, we see him in tears, applauded by Junior, another legend of Flamengo and Brazil, in the 1980s. After regaining his smile, Adriano was given a commemorative silver plaque by Zico where The word “Imperador” was written.
This tribute comes more than eight years after the last professional match played by the former scorer for Inter but also for AS Roma, who had wanted to return permanently to Brazil for family reasons well before his thirties.
Winner with Brazil of the Copa America in 2004 then the Confederations Cup the following year, at barely 22 years old, Adriano (48 caps) then gradually disappeared from the radar. Returning to live in the favela of his childhood, in Rio, he spoke about his problems with alcoholism last month to the specialized site “The Players' Tribune”.
