Apr 20

Apr 20 Adriano: From Wonderkid to Alleged Gang Member

Crippy Cooke

Stories

The (Crazy) True Story of Adriano’s Football Career

In 2016, Adriano retired from professional football at the age of 34 - and his name is shrouded in controversy.

Read about the rise and fall of Brazilian football star Adriano.

During his career, Adriano played for Flamengo, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Parma, Sao Paulo, AS Roma, Corinthians, Atlético Paranaense, Miami United and the Brazil national team.

He won six league titles, five domestic cups and two international honours.

However, look up his name on Google these days and you’ll see endless stories of scandal and controversy.

The physically imposing Brazilian was destined for greatness before a family tragedy changed the trajectory of his life for the worst.

He went from being a decorated Brazilian international to a depressed alcoholic who blew his fortune and ended up living in a gang-occupied favela.

So, what happened to L'Imperatore?

From the Favela to Flamengo

Born in the Vila Cruzeiro favela of Rio de Janeiro, Adriano was raised in a poor and crime-ridden community, controlled by heavily-armed drug traffickers.

Football was his escape from this life and he revealed to The Players’ Tribune that family members pooled money together so he could play for Flamengo’s academy at the age of 7.

It took two different buses and his grandmother chaperoning for the Brazilian wonderkid to attend the school in Gávea.

For eight years, his nan would accompany him to training every single day, watching him for hours and critiquing his play on the ride home.

Then a left-back, Flamengo came close to releasing Adriano when he turned 15 due to his size, but a coach vetoed the decision and said he should stay a little longer.

Adriano transitioned into a striker and took the opportunity to impress with both hands, bullying defenders and any competition that stood in his way for the academy.

Eventually, his efforts were rewarded with a chance to practice with the first-team, and a moment on the training ground shocked his coaches into playing him at the senior level.

“We’re playing 11-v-11 and the ball comes to me in the box. The defenders rush at me, and I just push them away. I turn and put my foot through the ball as hard as I could.
The ball hit the post and went flying in the air like a bird, rebounded all the way back to the halfway line. I could see the look on everybody’s face. The players, the coaches, everybody.
They were just like, “Oh! This is the boy.”

Adriano rose through the youth ranks to Flamengo’s first-team in 2000, making his senior debut at the age of 17.

He made 19 Serie A appearances in his first season for the Rubro-Negro, scoring seven goals.

And in his second campaign, the Emperor bagged three goals in five league games before attracting the attention of Inter.

Success After Failure in Italy

The Serie A giants had Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima in attack, so Adriano had the perfect mentor to learn from.

His first stint at the San Siro didn’t go to plan, however, with only one goal in 14 games, so he was loaned out to Fiorentina for the second half of the 2001/02 season.

Scoring six goals from 15 games for the Violas was an improvement, but not enough to convince Inter to keep Adriano, so he was sold to Parma in a part-ownership deal the following summer.

The 41-year-old scored 15 goals from 28 Serie A games in 2002/03 and convinced Parma to keep him for a second campaign.

Adriano picked up where he left off in 2003/04, scoring eight goals in nine games, so Inter believed he’d developed enough to be brought back.

And with Parma in financial ruin, being declared insolvent and going into administration, they had little choice but to let Adriano leave midway through the season.

The Brazilian scored nine goals in 16 Serie A games upon his return and staked a claim as one of best strikers in the world the following campaign with 28 goals from 42 games in 2004/05.

He finally became a regular for the Brazil national team, scoring nine goals from 11 games in 2004 and helping them win the Copa America, but his career unravelled after the sudden death of his father.

FromTriumph to Tragedy in 2004

The best moment of Adriano’s career was winning the Copa America with Brazil on July 25 and being named Best Player of the Tournament after scoring seven goals.

He netted in the final against Argentina to send the game to extra time and converted his spot-kick in the shootout, but the triumph turned to tragedy barely a week later.

On August 3, Adriano received a phone call while in Milan, telling him that his father Almir died from a heart attack at age 44.

The news broke him and was the catalyst to his playing career unravelling.

“After that day, my love for football was never the same. I was across the ocean in Italy, away from my family, and I just couldn't cope with it.
I got so depressed, man. I started drinking a lot. I didn't really want to train. It had nothing to do with Inter. I just wanted to go home.”

Adriano still scored 10 goals in 12 caps for Brazil the following year and netted a respectable 19 goals from 47 games for Inter in 2005/06, but he wouldn’t hit such heights in Europe again.

The Emperor gained weight and picked up injuries that limited his playing time, thus hampering his form.

Adriano would score only 14 goals in his last three seasons at Inter while bagging just five goals in the last five years of his international career.

He missed 15 Serie A games in 2006/07 and 34 Serie A games in 2007/08, falling deep into depression and turning to alcohol to numb the mental pain.

Adriano admitted in an interview with R7 Magazine via the Daily Star that he would turn up to training drunk and would have to be taken care of by the club’s medical staff.

“I was alone in Italy, sad and depressed, and then I started drinking. In the end I had to leave Inter.
I didn't know how to hide it, I arrived drunk in the morning for training sessions. The medical staff had to take me to sleep in the infirmary.”

Inter told the media that muscular injuries were the reason for Adriano’s absence, but the truth was that they couldn’t get him sober and weren’t always aware of his movements.

It was clear he was homesick, having stayed in Brazil following a qualifier for the national team, so it wasn’t a shock that Inter loaned Adriano out to Sao Paulo midway through the 2008/09 campaign.

They terminated his contract by mutual consent after the loan ended too.

Adriano’s Return to Flamengo Led to Career Peak

Adriano scored an impressive 17 goals in 29 games for Sao Paulo, helping them win the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A title for the third consecutive season.

The Emperor unsurprisingly wanted to stay in Brazil after becoming a free agent, so he returned to his boyhood club Flamengo in 2009.

Adriano bagged 19 goals in 30 Serie A games, leading the scoring charts in the league as Flamengo won their first title in 17 years.

He scored 15 goals in 21 games the following season and did enough to convince a European giant to take a punt on him.

AS Roma signed Adriano on a three-year deal in 2010, paying him €5m-a-year/€96k-per-week (£4.4m-a-year/£85k-per-week), but they lived to regret the decision.

The 41-year-old lasted just seven months in the Italian capital, playing in just five league games without scoring, so he returned to Brazil once again.

Adriano signed for Corinthians but made only seven appearances in two years, suffering a serious Achilles injury in 2011 which required surgery, so it was clear that his career had peaked.

As per the Malta Independent in 2012, Adriano fell out with his coach over his physical condition and application in training, so Timão didn’t want anything to do with him.

“When I popped my Achilles in 2011? Man, I knew that’s when it was over for me, physically. You can get surgery and rehabilitate it and try to carry on, but you will never be the same.
My explosiveness was gone. My balance was gone. Shit, I still walk with a limp. I still have a hole in my ankle.”

Adriano trained with Flamengo after leaving the Corinthians in 2012 and was required to undergo psychological treatment to receive his wages in full, but he didn’t do enough to earn a contract.

At this time, the Brazilian was making headlines for problems off the pitch - a public altercation with a girlfriend and alleged ties to gangs.

Adriano’s Retirement

Adriano took a two-year break following the Corinthians exit, joining Atlético Paranaense in February 2014, but he made only one league appearance before being released in April.

He seemingly retired from football for another two years before joining Miami United in 2016, but he lasted only five months before finally calling time on his career.

Adriano has a 16-year-old son, Adriano Carvalho Ribeiro, who has signed a professional contract with Brazilian outfit Serrano after developing in Gremio and Boavista’s youth teams, so he might have a bright future ahead of him.

Sadly, his father is back in the favela he grew up in and is alleged to have ties to a violent drug-trafficking gang.

He was charged over links with a drug lord, but the case fell through due to a lack of evidence.

Adriano grew up in the impoverished slum and that’s where he’s always felt at home, so it’s a rags to riches to rags story.