Adriano Leite, "The Emperor" of Brazil
There are many players who reach the elite with the premise of becoming a benchmark in world football. Unfortunately, there are also many who see their career cut short by injury, lack of discipline, depression or bad decisions. And if there is any legend that could be considered the perfect cocktail of all of them, that would be it. Adriano Leite.
Adriano Leite ,of Ronaldo relief disappearing between favelas
Adriano Leite Ribeiro, known in the football world as Adriano, was born on 17 February 1982 In janeiro river, specifically in one of the most dangerous favelas in the city. Despite this, remember having a happy childhood, in which his biggest hobby was playing ball.
physical power, energetic left-footed shots and intense ripping. Without a doubt the three qualities that anyone who saw him play remembers about him. even as a child. That's why your family, seeing the talent he had, enrolled in a neighborhood school, in which it did not take long for a team to take an interest in him.
The beginnings of Hadrian 'The Emperor’ in the world of football
The Flamengo Regatta Club he signed him in 1997 with the premise of making him a star. In his beginnings he began playing as a left back, but his power and finishing made him quickly reposition himself as a center forward. A new position in which he unleashed his full potential and for which he received a call from the Brazilian National Team in 1999 for the U-17 World Cup.
That youth team won the World Cup trophy and elevated Adriano as one of the greatest revelations of the competition, what it took him in the year 2000 to debut with the Flamengo first team. Further, that same campaign he won the South American sub-20 with Brazil and managed to achieve his dream: play with the absolute Canarinha.
The career of the Carioca striker was beginning to take off and after only one year in the elite, in which he scored 12 goals in 46 matches, a European team had already put the glove on him.
Arrival in Serie A
This is how a young Adriano de 19 years lands in an Inter Milan full of consolidated personalities. Something that would end up playing against him, despite starting off on the right foot scoring a great goal for the squad in his debut, the competition was real and the chances of being the starting attacker were derisory. So that, after marking 1 goal in 14 matches, Adriano went on loan to Fiorentina, where would the season end with 5 goals in 15 encounters.
In the season 2002/03 Inter reached an agreement with Parma Calcio to transfer the 50% of Adriano's rights in exchange for 14,5 million euros and the pass of Matias Almeyda. but late in the season it's hard. And is that, in the Ennio Tardini Adriano found his place, completing a spectacular campaign with 17 goals in 31 matches. A streak that the carioca replicated at the start of the following season, adding up 10 so many in 13 matches, and that led him to be called again by the neroazzurro team.
The coronation as the 'Emperor’
Those from Milan paid more than 23 million for recovering its star in the winter market. and Adriano, far from deflating, He continued to reap victories with the Interista shirt. I had reached a new level of play, seemed unstoppable. His shots and his runs made him one of the players of the moment since, as they said back then, had “Ronaldo's goalscoring ability, Ibrahimovic's strength and Roberto Carlos' shot power”. The Brazilian finished that campaign scoring 12 goals with Inter, which crowned him with the nickname of "Emperor".
Being already a consolidated figure in Calcio, only one goal was missing: become the trusted man of the Brazilian National Team. in the summer of 2004, Carlos Alberto Parreira summoned him to play the Copa América in Peru, where he was the undisputed starter after becoming the best player of the tournament and top scorer with a total of 7 so many. From them, one stands out in stoppage time in the final against Argentina that helped Brazil to reach the penalty shootout.
Adriano had no roof as a footballer and the successes seemed to come alone. The 2004/05 it was the season of his life. The attacker scored 28 goals in 42 games and achieved his first title in Europe after winning the Italian Cup. Spectacular performances that he kept repeating in the summer of 2005, when he left his mark again with the shirt of his country. Brazil was proclaimed champion of the Confederations Cup that year, a title that raised Adriano to the top, being named again MVP of the championship and top scorer with 5 goals.
the beginning of the end
On his return to Italy the 4 August 2004, Unfortunately, the striker received the news of his father's death almir. “I saw him cry, he threw the phone and started yelling that it was not possible. Since that call, he has never been the same.. We didn't get him out of the slump”, revealed at the time Javier Zanetti, former teammate. “After that day, my love for soccer was never the same again. I got very depressed, man. I started drinking a lot. I really didn't want to train. I just wanted to go home. Even though I scored a lot of goals in Serie A during those few years, and although the fans really loved me, my joy was gone”, explained in a letter written by him for The Players Tribune.
after that hard blow, and as Adriano himself tells, football continued to give him happiness. In that campaign 2005/06 contributed with 18 goals to the triplet of his team that became champion of the Super Cup, the Italian Cup against Roma and the Scudetto after the outbreak of Calciopoli.
But nevertheless, everything was facade. And it is that despite taking over the covers of all the newspapers and being the emblematic player of the video game of the moment (PES 6), in 2006 he sank into alcoholism and was even declared to have a drug problem. The player himself came to confess that he arrived completely drunk at training and that he had to sleep in the infirmary.
in the summer of 2006 came to play the World Cup in Germany but, despite having a bag, The forward's arrogance and lack of discipline led the team to fall in the quarterfinals against the Zidane's France. A new disappointment that plunged him further into the well of lack of control in which he was submerged. Adriano, 'The emperor’ his performance began to drop and he fell into a depression that made him neglect his physique, go out at night and drink to forget.
As the results showed, his performance began to suffer, and in the 2006/07 only marked 7 goals in 30 matches. Despite Hadrian's decline, Inter won the Super Cup and the League again, but the directive agreed to the return of the player to his country.
Adriano's return to his roots
Adriano returned to Brazil with the aim of relaunching his career at Sao Paulo, where he completed a great tournament at the end of the season scoring 17 goals in 29 matches. The "Emperor" seemed to be ready to rise from his ashes and return to Calcio, but ran into Mourinho's strict methods.
Adriano returned to Italy, where he played intermittently in the 2008/09. But the lack of obedience and lateness led the player to be discarded by the Portuguese coach. A decision that took the carioca to the limit, even going so far as to announce his retirement from football on 10 April 2009.
After a month without playing, Flamengo convinced him to return to Rio de Janeiro and finally redeem himself. A new stage with those who saw him born in which he won the Brazilian and reached the highest goalscoring average of his career: 0,70 goals per game (34 goals in 48 matches). The numbers spoke for themselves and Serie A claimed him again.
The "Emperor" signed for Rome in order to recover his throne, but his time at the Giallorossi Coliseum did not turn out as expected. Adriano only played 8 games in the season and ended up terminating his contract in 2001 without any goal with the rojiamarillos. Further, his irregular career distanced him definitively from the calls of the absolute, with whom he played his last game in 2010, stopping his World Cup counter with 48 matches and 27 goals.
After leaving Europe, he signed for Corinthians, but a serious Achilles tendon injury and a shoulder operation, they removed him from the pitches 5 months. on his return, and even though his team won the Brasileirao, his level was disappointing (11 matches and 3 goals). And after having several problems with drugs in 2012, Adriano ended up leaving the club.
the end of a star
The life of that Brazilian boy who dreamed of being a soccer player was out of control, and bad company was destroying his career. So after several attempts, one at Club Athletico Paranaense and another at Miami United Football Club (in which he played after buying the 40% Of the entity), he left football for good.
In may 2016, to the 34 year old, Adriano put an end to his football career. Fin a 16 years in which you collected 197 goals in 427 matches and 15 titles that will remain for the memory. A legend who retired young and returned home, to their favelas, claiming to be "one of the most misunderstood footballers on the planet”.
