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<p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="footballco-bet-betsense">{"type":"footballco-bet-betsense","data":{}}</script><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_d6e1e5da-7d9a-43d5-97e1-f4350a3cd7e3"}}</script><ul><li>Adriano admits to 'wasted' potential</li><li>Has returned to favela in Brazil</li><li>Says he drinks 'to oblivion' each day</li></ul><table><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va2ivxLJJhzdzbJdwo0n"><strong>Follow GOAL on WhatsApp!</strong></a> 🟢📱</td></tr></tbody></table>

'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

Serie A

Verona

Inter

<p>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, <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/streets-wont-forget-adriano-inter-brazil-tortured-emperor/blt5ad48e9ae1c13112" target="_blank">Adriano was regarded as a cult hero</a> who failed to live up to his potential.</p>

WHAT HAPPENED?

<p>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.</p><p>The ex-attacker has now opened up on his constant drinking, saying in <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/adriano-letter-to-my-favela-english" target="_blank"><em>The Players' Tribune</em></a>: "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."</p>

THE BIGGER PICTURE

<p>Adriano added that his alcoholism haunted his playing days as he explained his struggles with coaches, and why he continues to drink each day.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"I see my father in each of these alleys."</p>

WHAT ADRIANO SAID

<p>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."</p>

WHAT NEXT FOR ADRIANO?

'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 | Goal.com US

Former Inter and Brazil striker Adriano has labelled himself &quot;football&apos;s biggest waste&quot; while opening up on his struggles with alcoholism.

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