The Fall of Adriano

Adriano Leite Ribeiro, commonly known as Adriano, is a former professional football player. Due to his playing style, he was called the mix of Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović. However, a few years into his professional career, he lost his consistency and his fame and success went into serious decline.

To understand the reason behind, an in-depth analysis of his past is required. Adriano was born and raised in the favelas on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – the area was a poverty-ridden and gang-filled slum where a lot of shady stuff took place. Adriano would play football whenever he got the opportunity. It didn’t matter if it was in alleyways or dirt pitches; he loved the sport so much. His dream was to succeed at the game and make it a profession, to escape the favelas and support his family. The motivation to succeed came from his father, who supported his dream and struggled to make ends meet and never indulged in any of the ill-practices of their society. Adriano’s father saved up to help his son get into a youth football club, and Adriano never let him down – he performed as well as he could and stood out amongst his fellow players in terms of skills and stature.

After impressing a large number of people in and outside of the club, he was invited to play for better teams in bigger youth leagues.  In 1999 at the age of 17, Adriano got the opportunity to sign with Flamengo and his professional career officially began. He began dominating the Brazilian league with his incredible speed, strength and skill. In 2001, he signed with a contract with Inter Milan and finally got the chance to play and learn with the man he had always looked up to – the legendary Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima who became a mentor for Adriano.

In 2002, when Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid, Adriano got the opportunity to take the spotlight. He did not disappoint and became a superstar in Italy. He went on to climb the stairs of success and fame, until one day in 2004, the news of his father passing away reached him at the tender age of 22. This was devastating and changed him forever. He brought a new level of aggressiveness in his playing style and finally after almost a year of the incident, completely lost motivation to play due to struggle with depression and with addiction.