Adriano was once a world top scorer. But the Brazilian failed because of fame and homesickness, he “filled his butt with vodka.” Today he lives in a favela in Rio and is happy, he says. Alcohol still plays a central role.
“People said a lot of shit because they were all ashamed. Adriano earned seven million euros. Did he give up everything for this shit? That’s what I’ve heard the most. But they don’t know why I did it,” writes Adriano Leite Ribeiro in “A Letter to My Favela” published by “The Players’ Tribune,” in which the 42-year-old candidly reflects on his life.
Adriano Leite Ribeiro, known in Europe as Adriano, became Italian champion four times with Inter Milan. In 2004 he led Brazil to the Copa América and became the tournament’s best player and top scorer. A year later he achieved the same feat at the Confederations Cup in Germany. He was later voted world top scorer in 2005. A year later he would shoot Brazil to the World Cup title. But the price for this success was high. After his father’s death in 2004, Adriano suffered from depression and the loneliness that overcame him after moving to Europe. He started drinking.
“I was in Milan for a specific reason. It was what I had dreamed of my whole life. “God made it possible for me to become a footballer in Europe,” writes Adriano. A dream that couldn’t alleviate his intense homesickness. Whenever he spoke to his mother on the phone and heard his aunts’ loud drumming in the background, he would start to cry. “I was broken. I grabbed a bottle of vodka. I’m not exaggerating. I drank all that shit alone. I filled my ass with vodka. I cried all night long. I passed out on the couch from drinking and crying so much.”
People never understood why he gave up his celebrity life to sit in his old neighborhood and drink until he was forgotten, Adriano said. The Brazilian sought peace in his favela, which had no place for him in Europe, he says: “Here I walk around barefoot, only in shorts. I play with dominoes, sit on the curb, remember my childhood stories, listen to music, dance with my friends, sleep on the floor and see my father in every alley.”
Football died with his father
The death of his father changed his life forever. “It is still a problem that I have not been able to solve to this day.” Adriano’s father, only 17 years older than him, died in 2004 as a result of a shot in the head. The bullet remained lodged in his skull for over ten years until it finally killed him. “He loved the game, so I loved the game. When my father died, football was never the same,” writes Adriano.
His football career, which no longer brought him any fulfillment, ended abruptly. Things had been going downhill for years, the clubs were getting smaller, the games were fewer. The former world top scorer broke off an engagement with the then American fourth division club Miami United after just two games and one goal. That was in 2014. He finally returned to Brazil.
Back to the loud music. To the samba. To the “hot brunettes who walk up and down,” as he puts it. Back to his homeland, to the favela Vila Cruzeiro, the poor district of Rio de Janeiro, where he grew up. He prefers to go to Naná’s kiosk there, as he writes in his letter. “I drink every other day. And on the other days too,” writes Adriano. And so his life was just right for him: “Father in heaven, bless us all. There’s nothing better on this planet, brother.”
In the photos attached to his letter, Adriano looks happy. He sits with his friends on plastic chairs, drinks beer and plays cards or cools himself down with a bucket of water, which he pours over his head on the street, as is customary in the neighborhood.
He ended his letter to the favela with the following words:
“I’m really respected here.
Here is my story.
Here I learned what community is.
Vila Cruzeiro is not the best place in the world.
Vila Cruzeiro is my place.”
