JAKARTA - Cicinho, who played for Real Madrid between 2005 and 2007 and for Villarreal in 2011, talks about his addiction to alcohol while still an active footballer.
The Brazilian full-back, who hung up his boots in March 2018 after playing for Botafogo, Atletico Mineiro, Sao Paulo, Real Madrid, Roma, Villarreal, Sport Recife and Sivasspor, has struggled with alcoholism throughout his career.
However, on the other hand, the defender said it was easy for him to hide the situation during training.
"If you ask me if I've ever been drunk while training with Real Madrid, I have," he told EPTV's 'Ressaca' program.
"I drink coffee to cover my breath and I shower with perfume.
"In my profession, as a professional footballer, it's easy. I don't need money for a drink, people give it to me gladly in restaurants.
"When I was 13, that's when I tried alcohol for the first time, and I never stopped.
"I live in the countryside and on weekends we hang out with friends and go to the square, the discotheque. I'll ask the adults to go shopping and I'll drink behind my parents and the police."
Cicinho went on to highlight his struggles being an alcoholic and the damage it caused to his personal relationships.
"Alcohol surrounds you with people who love that lifestyle, and people who truly love you are excluded," Cicinho says.
"When they hold you against the wall and tell you it's not true, you don't want to hear it.
"I have a 15-year-old son and I always apologize to him. He was two at the time and he didn't even understand it properly, but in my head it stuck."
Cicinho is now 41 years old and has been rehabilitated. The defender now wants to share his experience of his struggle with alcohol to help others avoid a similar fate.
"Football was a phase in my life but now my phase is to show my testimony and help people so they don't fall into the path that I did," he added.
"I give motivational lectures. I am not fit to play, my mind is an ex-footballer, my body is used to it."
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