The Troubled Emperor – Adriano Retires From Football

When Adriano failed to turn up in Milan following international duty with Brazil in early April, speculation over his exact whereabouts soon began. And, as has tended to be the case whenever the Inter Milan striker has gone missing in the past, the general media reaction was resonant with sneering and cynicism. Probably drunk on a Brazilian beach somewhere, was the popular perception.

Inter boss Jose Mourinho’s gloomy reaction to the striker’s absence helped dampen the insensitivity of the tone though, and ushered in an altogether different mood regarding Adriano – one of concern.

“This is not indiscipline or a joke, it is much more serious. The only thing I can do, with sadness and no anger or criticism, is to say nothing. We will have to wait and see how this all ends for him, but at this moment in time I am concerned about the man more than the player.”

Where is he? People began to fret. How it all ended, as Mourinho put it, was like so. A shattered Adriano finally surfaces at a press conference held in his native Brazil, and glumly announces his retirement from football.

“For now I’m quitting. I no longer find any joy in playing. I lost the want to train, I no longer want to play. I don’t want to return to Italy, I want to live in peace here in Brazil. I’m not sick, I only want to live here in Brazil tranquilly with my family.”

While one can never envisage such a talented player retiring at just 27, Adriano’s decision actually came as no great surprise to me. That he was unhappy in football had been common knowledge for some time. What I found more surprising was that he finally found the courage to actually tear up his contract and decide enough is enough. It was a bold move for Adriano, far easier to imagine than to realise.

To try and understand Adriano’s present it is necessary to understand his past.

The rise of the Emperor

Adriano Leite Ribeiro was born into poverty, a street kid from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. He comes from Vila Cruzeiro, a particularly notorious neighbourhood which shot to infamy in 2002 when TV Globo journalist Tim Lopes was captured, tortured, murdered and cut into pieces by druglords after being caught secretly filming drug deals as part of investigations into Brazil’s narcotics trade.

Coming up as a young footballer, Adriano’s dream, like the dream of thousands of other kids like him, was to get rich through the game and be able to afford all the privileges of wealth – fast cars, fancy women and the opportunity to indulge his family.

As he himself put it: “When you’re small, you dream of having a big car. Your mother is the most important person in your life, and you dream of giving her a big house. And you see the top footballers with beautiful and glamorous women.” All this he wanted. And by the grace of his remarkable talent, he got it.

Spotted by Inter Milan whilst playing for Flamengo in Brazil, in 2001 Adriano was signed by the Italian giants and shipped over to Italy at 19. Learning his trade during loan spells at Fiorentina and Parma, he developed into an amazing player.

Naturally a hulk of a man, with a sledgehammer of a left foot, he successfully married his impressive physique with a deftness of touch, superb technique and clinical finishing. It was always wonderful to observe how someone so huge could be so light on his feet.

Adriano rose to prominence in Italy with all the velocity of a shooting star. 23 goals in 37 appearances for Parma was deemed good enough for Inter to call him back in 2004. He went straight into the first team there and banged in 16 league goals, 15 of them in just 16 appearances. I still remember to this day his goal of the season contender against Udinese when he ran the length of the field before battering the ball into the net. It was just another in a long line of goals for Adriano, who earnt the nickname ‘L’Imperatore’ – The Emperor by Italian press.

Arguably his finest hour came in the 2004 Copa America when Adriano was at the peak of his powers. He won the Golden Shoe as competition top scorer with 7 goals and was named player of the tournament. The Emperor seemingly had the world at his feet, and the ric
hes to boot.

Tragedy and depression

But in late 2004 tragedy struck. Adriano’s father Almir died of a heart attack. The impact on Adriano the player, and the man, was intense. The relationship between father and son had been exemplary. Almir was an inspiration to Adriano, and the player had previously acknowledged that trying to make his father happy had been a major motivation in his career. Though a delayed reaction (he scored an incredible 40 goals in 2004/5), without his father around Adriano soon fell into deep depression.

“My dad always supported me. He liked to watch me play. Without him I started to drown all my problems in alcohol. I was drinking heavily and couldn’t not go out.”

Rich, successful and now, crucially, deprived of his chief motivating factor, football was no longer important to Adriano. His form began to suffer and his behaviour became increasingly erratic. He no longer needed the pressures of modern-day football. The journey into alcoholism took Adriano through the world he had once dreamed of. He had the fast cars, the string of women jostling for his attention (his most recent girlfriend had his name tattooed under one of her breasts), the big houses and the luxury goods.

But as Adriano came to recognise during that period of his life, money is not always everything. Certainly it could not fill the void of his father’s absence.

The epiphany

“If you’re not surrounded by people who want what’s best for you, you can end up feeling lonely. Success and everything that comes with it don’t always bring happiness. Happiness is in the little things.”

Those little things, Adriano soon learned, were to be found in Vila Cruzeiro.

Now, people are always quick to demonise the slums and favelas and focus solely on the bad. But there is often a great sense of community spirit in such neighbourhoods that is hard to find elsewhere. Harsh living conditions sometimes bring people closer together, and the camaraderie and unity to be found amidst people facing struggle often helps form strong human bonds. For Adriano, these ties were impossible to replicate in Italy or anywhere else. Adriano has realised what he wants. He wants to be at home.

Ultimately, the desire to be with the people he loves has outweighed Adriano’s hunger for professional football. Clearly there will be those who criticise, but for the man himself it is better to be happy out of football than sad in it.

The question now is: will Adriano ever return to the game that made him? The answer: perhaps. Certainly it will take a while to get his mind right. And he may never be ready to return to Europe, though a latent desire to play for boyhood club Flamengo still lingers within him. But if this Emperor never strikes back it will be because he has found a peace outside the sport that this once great player can simply no longer find in it. And nobody can sneer at him for that.

Adriano, Brazil, Inter Milan, Rise and Fall