JAKARTA - Former Inter Milan striker Adriano recently looked back on his playing days in Italy while admitting he often appeared at the training ground drunk.
The 39-year-old forward has had his ups and downs in a 16-year career involving eight clubs on three continents.
His most productive period came in Italy, where Adriano found both fame and disgrace while playing for Parma and two spells at Inter Milan.
Adriano enjoyed seven unforgettable seasons at Inter, scoring 74 goals in 177 games in all competitions for the Serie A giants.
But at the start of his second stint at the San Siro, Adriano was deeply affected by his father's premature death.
Adriano and his father were especially close having grown up in one of Rio's meanest slums. But things weren't the same for Adriano after his father passed away in 2004.
Adriano admitted that getting drunk was an escape as well as an attempt to deal with pain. In an interview with R7 magazine via Football Italia, he told the story.
"Only I know how much I suffered. My father's death left me with a huge void. I felt very lonely. After his death things got worse because I isolated myself", said Adriano.
The striker continued, apart from being lonely, he was sad and depressed, and then he started drinking. Adriano only feels good when he drinks and he'll do it every night.
"I drank everything I could get: wine, whiskey, vodka, beer. Lots of beer. I didn't stop drinking and in the end, I had to leave Inter. I didn't know how to hide it, I arrived drunk in the morning for a training session", he continued.
Adriano admitted that he was still present at Inter's training session. However, if he was really drunk, the medical staff had to take him to the hospital and he was left to sleep there.
"Inter told the press that I just had a muscle problem. I then realized that the problem was the people around me, friends who did nothing but take me to parties with women and alcohol, without thinking about anything".
Adriano left Inter for Sao Paolo on loan in 2008 before making a permanent move back to his homeland with Flamengo in 2009.
Although the transfer made the forward's pocket a little less, he believes that to his happiness he has done the right thing.
"By returning to Brazil, I gave up millions of dollars (out of my pocket), but I found happiness", he concluded.
The Rio-born center-forward recently played for Roma, Corinthians, and Miami United before retiring in 2016.
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