Adriano’s heartbreaking testimony about alcoholism, family trauma and his life story in the favela

Hadrian He was one of the great figures of world football and was part of successful teams and champions of the Brazilian team, when the Yellowgreen It was truly unbeatable.

Flamengo, Inter Milan, Roma, Fiorentina, San Pablo, Corinthians, Parma, among other teams, were some of the clubs in which the Emperor who, several years later, lives a totally different reality than the one he went through in his golden age as a footballer.

Based in his native place, Villa Cruzeiro, in full Brazilian favela, Adriano published an article in The Players Tribune, on the eve of the launch of his biography Meu Medo Maior. He told how he lives his current life, his unhappiness in sports, his relationship with alcoholism, family traumas and the urgent need to return again and again to the place where he was born. Piercing.

Adriano’s heartbreaking testimony about alcoholism and his life story in the favela

“Do you know what it feels like to be a promise? I know. Including a broken promise. The biggest waste in football: me. I like that word, waste. Not just because of how it sounds, but because I am obsessed with wasting my life. I enjoy this stigma. I don’t take drugs, as they try to prove. I don’t like crime, but of course I could have done it. I don’t like going to clubs. I always go to the same place in my neighborhood, the Naná kiosk,” the former forward began.

And he continued regarding his family past and his connection with alcohol: “I had 14 years and in our community we were all celebrating. There were a lot of people, samba, people coming and going. At that time, I was not a drinker. But when I saw all the guys doing their thing, laughing, I said ‘aaaahhhh’. There was no way. I took a plastic cup and filled it with beer. That bitter and fine foam that went down my throat for the first time had a special flavor. A new world of ‘fun’ opened up to me. My mother was at the party and saw the scene. She stayed quiet, didn’t she? My father… Shit”.

“Stop right there,” he shouted. My aunts and my mother quickly realized this and tried to calm things down before the situation got worse. “Come on, Mirinho, he’s with his friends, he’s not going to do anything crazy. He’s just there.” laughing, having fun, leave him alone, Adriano is growing up,’ my mother said. But there was no conversation. The old man went crazy. He ripped the cup out of my hand and threw it into the ditch. ‘I didn’t teach you that, son’, he said,” remembering that his grandfather had died from alcohol.

About the death of his father, Hadrian He recalled: “He was shot in the head at a party in Cruzeiro. A stray bullet. The bullet entered through his forehead and lodged in the back of his head. The doctors had no way to get her out. After that, my family’s life was never the same, my father started having frequent seizures. Have you ever seen a person having an epileptic seizure in front of you? You don’t want to see it, brother. It’s scary.”

“My father’s death changed my life forever. To this day, it is a problem that I have not yet been able to solve.”, admitted the ex-footballer.

His landing in Europe was not what he expected, he missed him a lot. Marinho, his dad. He even remembered what happened Christmas in the house of Clarence Seedorf and called his mother: “‘My son! I miss you. Merry christmas. Everyone is here, the only one missing is you.’ “I started crying immediately,” he said.

“I was devastated. I grabbed a bottle of vodka. I’m not exaggerating, brother. I drank all that shit alone. I filled my ass with vodka. I cried all night. I passed out on the couch because I drank too much and cried. But that was it, right, man? What could I do? I was in Milan for a reason. It was what I had dreamed of all my life: to become a soccer player in Europe. But that didn’t stop me from being sad,” he continued.

Established in Italian football, Hadrian escaped, returned to Brazil and took refuge in his birthplace: “I spent three days touring the entire complex. Nobody found me. There is no way. Favela rule number one: keep your mouth shut. The Italian press went crazy. The police of River He even carried out an operation to ‘rescue’ me. They said they had kidnapped me. You’re kidding, right? “Imagine that someone is going to do some harm to me here… to me, a child from the favela.”

“I couldn’t do what they asked me to do. (by Roberto Mancini, José Mourinho or president Massimo Moratti, who tried to straighten it out) . I stayed well for a few weeks, avoided alcohol, trained like a horse, but there was always a relapse. Again and again. Everyone criticized me, I couldn’t take it anymore. People said a lot of stupid things. ‘Wow, Adriano stopped earning seven million euros. Did he leave everything for this shit?’ That’s what I’ve heard the most. But they don’t know why I did it. I did it because I wasn’t feeling well. “I needed my space to do what I wanted to do,” he said.

“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 to give explanations to others, but here’s one: I drink because it’s not easy being a promise that’s still in debt. And at my age, this is even worse,” he said.

And he completed, mentioning Villa Cruzeiro: “It is a very dangerous place. Life is hard. People suffer. If I stopped to count all the people I know who have died violently, we would be here talking for days and days… Here I walk barefoot and without a shirt, only with shorts. I play dominoes, sit on the sidewalk, remember my childhood stories, listen to music, dance with my friends and I sleep on the floor. I see my father in each of these alleys“.

“What more do I want? I don’t even bring women here, much less 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. They really respect me here. Here is my story. Vila Cruzeiro It’s not the best place in the world. Vila Cruzeiro is my place“…