"I am football’s biggest waste"

There was a time when talking about 'The Emperor ' was synonymous with good things. Adriano Leite' s quality and innate gift for the world of football amazed everyone equally, considering him as one of Brazil's potential legends. However, the murder of his father made him fall into a spiral of addictions and bad life, where football was no longer important to him.

The ex-footballer himself, who lives in a Brazilian slum, specifically in Vila Cruzeiro, sent a letter to 'The Players Tribune', opening up about his most intimate life and his problems: “I drink every two days... And the others too. How does a person like me get to the point of drinking almost every day? I don't like to explain myself to others, but it's not easy to be a promise that remains in debt. And at my age, it's even worse”.

He himself is aware of his big problem: “I'm football's biggest waste. I like that word, waste. Not just because of how it sounds, but because I'm obsessed with wasting my life. I'm fine like that, in a frenzied waste. I enjoy this stigma.”

"My father's death changed my life forever. To this day, it's a problem I still haven't been able to solve. It all started here, in the community I care so much about,” he nodded.

Adriano revealed what his first Christmas away from his family in Brazil was like when he signed for Inter Milan: “I was devastated. I took a bottle of vodka. I'm not exaggerating, bro. I drank all that sh*t alone. I filled my *ss with vodka. I cried all night. I passed out on the couch because I drank so much and cried. But that was it, wasn't it, man, what could I do?”

“When I 'escaped' from Inter and left Italy, I came to hide here. Nobody found me. No way. Rule number one of the favela: keep your mouth shut. You think someone would rat me out? There are no rats here, bro. The Italian press went crazy. The Rio police even carried out an operation to 'rescue' me. They said they had kidnapped me. You're kidding, right? Imagine someone is going to do me some harm here... me, a favela kid,” he recounted of his departure from Italy.

He concluded: “Whether I liked it or not, I needed the freedom. I couldn't stand anymore having to always be on the lookout for cameras every time I went out to Italy, whoever crossed my path, whether it was a journalist, a con man, a hustler or any other motherf*cker.”