Former Brazil striker Adriano sparked fears among fans last month when a video circulated of him swigging beer barefoot in the street while looking unrecognisable.
Adriano retired in 2016 at the age of 34, having won 14 major honours in his career including four Serie A titles with Inter. Yet, despite his success, the former Selecao star failed to reach the heights many predicted when he burst onto the scene.
After making his Brazil debut at 18, he was considered the long-term successor to Ronaldo, but his life was thrown into disarray after the death of his father, as the former star heartbreakingly struggled with alcoholism and depression during his time in Italy.
However, several fans disputed the video on social media, claiming Adriano no longer has a problem with alcohol and that he was just enjoying time out with his friends.
Yet, it is not the first time Adriano has hit the headlines for the wrong reason, something that several other Brazilian football stars have done too.
And, in light of that, Mail Sport has taken a look at some of these examples below.
Former Brazil striker Adriano appeared in a social media clip that sparked health concerns
He retired in 2016 after a career starring for the likes of Inter Milan, Flamengo and Brazil
ADRIANO
Alongside the viral video which circulated on October 31, Adriano was charged with drug trafficking while his playing career was still ongoing.
In 2010, prosecutors alleged Adriano had bought a motorbike and given it to a known drug dealer in the Rio de Janeiro favela where he grew up.
The bike was used for drug trafficking by a powerful criminal gang, it was alleged at the time, with Adriano facing a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.
But in 2014, judge Maria Tereza Donatti dismissed the case because there wasn’t enough evidence to uphold the accusations.
Adriano, seen celebrating a goal for Brazil in 2006, was also accused of drug trafficking
The former striker, who played 48 times for Brazil, has also endured marital troubles in his life, famously splitting with his wife after just 24 days of marriage.
He has similarly revealed he became an alcoholic following the death of his father.
In fact, in a 2018 interview he revealed that Inter hid the truth from the media by claiming he was injured, when in fact he was turning up to training drunk.
‘Only I know how much I suffered. The death of my father left me with this huge void, I felt very lonely. After his death everything got worse, because I isolated myself,’ he told Brazilian outlet R7.
‘I was alone in Italy, sad and depressed, and then I started drinking. I only felt happy when I was drinking, I’d do it every night. I drank everything I could get my hands on: wine, whisky, vodka, beer. Lots of beer.
‘I didn’t stop drinking and in the end I had to leave Inter.’
ROBINHO
The disgraced former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward, 40, was told by judges in March that he must serve a nine-year prison sentence in Brazil for his part in a group sexual assault in 2013.
Robinho, who played for AC Milan at the time, was one of six men found guilty in 2017 of gang raping a 22-year-old Albanian woman in a nightclub.
In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome dismissed his final appeal against the conviction.
Italian authorities had asked to extradite Robinho from Brazil to serve his sentence, and while that didn’t happen, judges in Brasilia ruled he would be imprisoned in Brazil instead.
Robinho, who played 100 times for the national team, has repeatedly insisted he is innocent and has unsuccessfully appealed the decision on two occasions.
Robinho is serving a nine-year sentence for his part in the gang rape of a woman in 2013
DANI ALVES
Robino’s guilty verdict came on the same day the ex-Brazil defender Dani Alves was released on a €1million [£850,000] bail after appealing his four-and-a-half year prison sentence for rape.
Alves, 40, one of the most decorated footballers of all-time, was found guilty in February of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub bathroom in the early hours of December 31, 2022.
He had been held in the Brians 2 Prison in Barcelona since January 2023 for 15 months but was granted bail while he awaits his final sentence.
Alves was put on provisional release and is required to attend court hearings every week as part of a number of conditions handed out by the court.
Alves has also surrendered both his Spanish and Brazilian passports.
Dani Alves was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of rape
Alves was released on a €1million [£850,000] bail and has appealed his sentence
Alves’ ex, Joana Sanz revealed she filed for divorce last year after the accusations emerged
Prosecutors had pushed for Alves to receive a nine-year sentence, with the player always maintaining his innocence, saying the sexual encounter was consensual.
His wife, the model Joana Sanz, filed for divorce following his arrest, although it was reported in April that Sanz had put those proceedings on hold after she shared a picture with him on social media.
In eight years playing for Barcelona, Alves won six LaLiga titles and the Champions League three times. He played 126 times for his country.
RONALDINHO
The man whose free-kick knocked England out of the 2002 World Cup was involved in a fake passport scandal after wrapping up his playing career in 2015.
In 2020, Ronaldinho – who enjoyed a glittering career with Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan – was arrested alongside his brother Roberto de Assis, when they entered Paraguay on a promotional tour.
The pair were found to have falsified Paraguayan passports and ID, though prosecutors believed Ronaldinho had no idea the documents were fake.
Brazil legend Ronaldinho was arrested in Paraguay after using fake documentation
Ronaldinho and his brother used fake passports and IDs to gain access to the country in 2020
While in prison, Ronaldinho played in a jail futsal tournament with his team winning 11-2 in the final with the former World Cup winner scoring five goals and setting up the other six.
After 32 days in the maximum security Asuncion prison – where Ronaldinho spent his 40th birthday – he was moved into a $380-a-night luxury hotel, otherwise empty amid Covid quarantines, under house arrest.
News reports in South America claimed that despite the restrictions, Ronaldinho often welcomed guests and spent many evenings hosting karaoke parties.
The brothers were fined $200,000 as part of a plea bargain and eventually returned to Brazil.
EDMUNDO
The forward nicknamed ‘The Animal’ was certainly a controversial character.
In 1999, Edmundo was threatened with prosecution by animal welfare groups after he hired an entire circus to perform in his back garden for his son’s first birthday.
At the party, he was pictured feeding beer and whisky to an Adidas tracksuit-wearing chimpanzee called Pedrinho.
Edmundo shares his beer with chimpanzee Pedrinho during his son’s first birthday party
That same year, while playing for Italian club Fiorentina, Edmundo escaped a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for driving while drunk and causing the deaths of three people when his Jeep Cherokee crashed into a Fiat during the Rio Carnival.
He was convicted of ‘culpable homicide’ but appeals drastically reduced his punishment to a seven-day suspended sentence.
HULK
The former Brazil striker certainly hit the headlines when it was revealed he’d married the niece of his former wife.
The 37-year-old, who is playing for Atletico Mineiro in his homeland, was previously married to Iran Angelo for 12 years. They had two sons, Ian and Tiago, and a daughter, Alice, together.
Hulk left fans stunned when married Camila Angelo, who is the niece of his former wife
Hulk’s ex-wife Iran (left) and Iran’s niece (right), who married the Brazilian footballer in 2020
But Hulk – full name Givanlido Vieira de Sousa – announced five months after their divorce in 2019 that he was marrying Camila Angelo, his ex-wife’s niece.
A spokesman for the player said at the time: ‘Hulk called the parents and the brother of Camila and told them the truth. It was Hulk himself who made the information public because he had nothing to hide.’
The couple had a daughter, Zaya, in April 2022 and in December, they announced they have a boy on the way.
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