‘I’m football’s biggest waste’ – Brazil & Inter cult hero Adriano admits he’s ‘drinking to oblivion’ & ‘sleeping on the floor’ after returning to Vila Cruzeiro favela he grew up in

Adriano joined Inter as a teenager and rocketed to fame for his awesome displays in Italy, where he won four Serie A titles and earned the nickname Emperor, as well as for the Brazil national team, culminating in a 2004 Copa America success. However, his career soon fell apart as he battled personal problems after the death of his father, and by the time he retired in 2016, Adriano was regarded as a cult hero who failed to live up to his potential.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Since his retirement, Adriano has returned to the Vila Cruzeiro favela in Rio de Janeiro in which he grew up, and at the end of October, a video spread online showing him drunk and struggling through the street.

  The ex-attacker has now opened up on his constant drinking, saying in The Players’ Tribune: “Do you know what it feels like to be a promise? I know. Including an unfulfilled promise. Football’s biggest waste: Me. I like that word, waste. Not only because of how it sounds, but because I’m obsessed with wasting my life. I’m fine like this, in frantic waste. I enjoy this stigma. I don’t do drugs, as they try to prove. I’m not into crime, but, of course, I could have been. I don’t like clubbing. I always go to the same place in my neighbourhood, the Naná’s kiosk. If you want to meet me, stop by. I drink every other day, yes. (And the other days, too.) How does a person like me get to the point of 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 that remains in debt. And it gets even worse at my age. They call me Emperor. Picture that. A guy who left the favela to receive the nickname Emperor in Europe. How do you explain that, man? I didn’t understand it until today. OK, so maybe I did some things right after all. A lot of people didn’t understand why I abandoned the glory of the stadiums to sit in my old neighbourhood, drinking to oblivion. Because at some point I wanted to, and it’s the kind of decision that’s difficult to go back on.”

  • WHAT ADRIANO SAID

    Adriano added that his alcoholism haunted his playing days as he explained his struggles with coaches, and why he continues to drink each day.

    “I tried to do what they wanted. I bargained with Roberto Mancini. I tried hard with José Mourinho,” he said. “I cried on [ex-Inter chairman Massimo] Moratti’s shoulder. But I couldn’t do what they asked. I stayed well for a few weeks, avoided the booze, trained like a horse, but there was always a relapse. Over and over again. Everyone blasted me. I couldn’t take it anymore.

    “People said a lot of shit because they were all embarrassed. ‘Wow, Adriano stopped earning seven million euros. Did he give up everything for this shit?’ That’s what I heard most. But they don’t know why I did it. I did it because I wasn’t well. I needed my space to do what I wanted to do.

    “You see it now for yourself. Is there something wrong with how we’re hanging out here?? No. Sorry to disappoint. But the only thing I look for in Vila Cruzeiro is peace. Here I walk barefoot and shirtless, just wearing shorts. I play dominoes, sit on the curb, remember my childhood stories, listen to music, dance with my friends, and sleep on the floor.

    “I see my father in each of these alleys.”

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    WHAT NEXT FOR ADRIANO?

    The ex-Selecao star appears determined to continue drinking in his home neighbourhood, as he explained: “What more would I want? I don’t even bring women here. Much less do I mess with girls who are from my community. Because I just want to be at peace and remember my essence. That’s why I keep coming back here. Here I am truly respected.”