Adriano Has A Story to Tell | By Adriano

“Adriano gave up millions to go home.” 

Yes, maybe I gave up millions. But what price would you put on your soul? How much money would you pay to get back your  essence?

Damn, man. A favela guy like me? I’m the Emperor of Italy? I had not even done much yet, and everyone was treating me like a king. It was crazy. I remember my family all coming over from Rio to visit me, and when I say my family, you don’t understand what I mean, bro. I mean my  family . Brazilian style. I’m not talkin

The press, sometimes they don’t understand that we’re human beings. It was a lot of pressure to be The Emperor. I came from nothing. I was a kid who just wanted to go play football and then drink his drink and hang out with his boys. And I know that’s not something you hear from a lot of footballers these days, because everything is so serious

August 4, 2004.  Nine days later. I was back in Europe with Inter. I got a call from home.   They told me my father had died. Heart attack. 

I don’t really want to talk about it, but I will tell you that after that day, my love for football was never the same. He loved the game, so I loved the game. It was that simple. It was my dest

I was never completely the same after my father passed away, but that season I really felt at home. I felt joy again. I felt like  Adriano  again. 

Adriano was the boy from the favela. 

Adriano was the boy on the bus with his nan. 

Adriano was the boy who Flamengo were going to release. 

Adriano was the boy who  fough

Outsiders, they don’t understand, man. When they talk about Brazil, when they talk about the little kids in the slums? 

They always paint a dark picture. It’s always pain and misery, man. 

And yeah, it’s like that sometimes. But it’s complicated. When I think about growing up in the favela, I actually think about how much  fun  we