The incredible rise and fall of Adriano – Brazil’s teenage footballing superstar destined to be the next Ronaldo… until the death of his father and his loneliness in Italy saw him spiral into alcoholism

The tumultuous and twisted tale of Adriano Leite Ribeiro is quite possibly the greatest ‘what if’ story of modern football.

A veritable phenom who earned cult hero status for his unrivalled athleticism, devastating power and lethal goalscoring ability, he was tipped in the early 2000s to succeed Ronaldo Nazario as Brazil’s next great forward.

But a turbulent upbringing in the notorious favelas north of Rio de Janeiro and a family tragedy at the peak of his powers derailed what was sure to have been a stellar career and instead sent him down a dark path.

The man himself has spoken openly about how he was consumed by depression, explaining how he went from ‘heaven to hell’ in the space of just nine days and fell out of love with football.

Before long, stories of Adriano’s breathtaking goals and dizzying success were replaced by shocking anecdotes of the striker blacking out drunk, missing games and allegedly rubbing shoulders with drug lords as rampant alcoholism took hold.

Even after retiring in 2016 following a string of dead-end contracts, he continued to court controversy, building a reputation as a party animal and splitting with his wife after less than a month of marriage. 

But new footage of the fallen star stumbling barefoot about the streets with a beer in hand has fuelled fresh concern over his well-being.

Now, as speculation mounts over the 42-year-old’s mental and physical health, MailOnline looks back at the life of Adriano, charting his path from the slums to the pinnacle of world sport and back again. 

Humble beginnings

Adriano Leite Ribeiro was born on February 17, 1982, in the favela of Vila Cruzeiro – one of dozens of slum communities nestled in the hills above Rio.

His early years were ones of dire need, but Adriano told The Player’s Tribune in a 2021 interview that he fosters fond childhood memories despite the hardships. 

Of course, a football was ever present at his feet. ‘It was put there by God’, he said.

‘Outsiders… paint a dark picture (of life in the slums), always pain and misery.

‘When I think about growing up in the favela, I actually think about how much fun we had. I think about flying kites… kicking a football in the alley.’

Having recognised his talent at an extremely early age, Adriano’s family and friends scraped together every coin they could and in 1989 managed to send him to the academy of Brazilian side Flamengo in the hopes he could lift himself out of poverty.

The footballer credits his grandma with his early success, claiming that she effectively sacrificed her life and everything she owned to fund his progression – and ensure he had some sorely needed calories ahead of training by way of popcorn.

But Adriano shared the closest of bonds with his father Almir – a man perpetually plagued by bad health.

He remained with Flamengo throughout his childhood and his teenage years – narrowly avoiding the cut at age 15 – and by the age of 17 was dazzling coaches and scouts with a dogged determination to win – expressed via brutal physicality.

Adriano claimed he routinely found himself in fistfights with older opposition defenders who tried – and failed – to bully the wunderkind.

Rise to superstardom 

At the turn of the millennium, Adriano earned a call-up to Brazil’s national team thanks to his impressive scoring prowess and towering presence on the ball, even at the tender age of 18. 

A year later he made the first pivotal move in his career, jetting across the globe to play for Italian club Inter Milan, and his very first goal for the Nerazzurri proved to be one of his most memorable.

Having come on as a substitute during a friendly fixture against Spain’s Real Madrid, Adriano stepped up to take a free kick on the edge of the box.

Many of his teammates appeared to protest the new kid on the block, but Dutch veteran Clarence Seedorf gave Adriano permission to go ahead.

Moments later, the teenage Brazilian struck the ball with a force never before seen, sending the ball rocketing into the top corner and immediately cementing his status as one of world football’s hottest prospects.

The club ultimately decided to loan him out and he spent three seasons away playing for Fiorentina and Parma, but Adriano returned to Inter Milan in January 2004 and within a matter of months secured his position as a legend with an outrageous goalscoring record.

He earned himself the fearsome moniker ‘The Emperor’, scoring 12 goals in the final few months of the 2003-2004 season before going on to score 42 goals in all competitions between July 11, 2004 and June 29, 2005.

Adriano has described July 25, 2004 – the day he rescued Brazil from defeat in the Copa America final against Argentina with a thunderous trademark strike before winning on penalties – as ‘probably the happiest day of my life’.

But less than two weeks later, his world was turned upside down.

A tragic death 

The exact moment the course of Adriano’s life was irrevocably altered was famously recounted by his former Inter Milan teammate Javier Zanetti in an interview with Italian media in 2017.

On August 4, 2004, just nine days after tasting international glory in the Copa America, the 22-year-old Brazilian was at a pre-season training with Inter Milan when he received a phone call.

Almir had finally succumbed to a litany of health issues and died of a heart attack.

‘He got a phone call from Brazil: ”Adri, dad is dead”,’ Zanetti recalled.

‘I saw him in his room, he threw the phone and started screaming. You couldn’t imagine that kind of scream… I get goosebumps even to this day.’

For months after his father’s death, Adriano continued to terrorise defences, scoring goal after goal throughout the 2004-2005 season.

Though the consequences of Almir’s passing took some time to manifest, Adriano himself has admitted it was the turning point that dictated the rest of his career.

Before long, Adriano’s performances on the field gradually began to suffer.

During the late 2000s, the striker – who was renowned for his lightning-quick pace and ripped physique – began piling on the pounds and although the power of his famed left foot never left, his ability to latch on to even the most wayward of balls did.

He enjoyed a brief revival with his boyhood club Flamengo in 2009, putting in some performances reminiscent of his 2004-2005 heyday to help the club snatch their first Brazilian club title since 1992.

Two years later, Adriano’s career in the top flight of football was brought to an abrupt end when he ruptured his Achilles tendon.

The former striker has freely admitted the physical injury was just half of the story.

‘Not all injuries are physical, you understand? When I popped my Achilles in 2011… I knew that’s when it was over for me. It was the same thing when my father died. Except the scar was inside me.

‘It’s simple – I have a hole in my ankle, and one in my soul,’ he was quoted as saying.

Alcoholism 

Adriano’s private life was rapidly falling apart even before the Achilles injury.

There are many reports of the Brazilian turning up to training sessions drunk and stinking of booze. 

He missed many a match for Inter, with the club forced to lie that he had sustained injuries when in reality he was simply not sober enough to play.

‘I was alone in Italy, sad and depressed, and then I started drinking. I only felt happy when I was drinking, I’d do it every night,’ he told the media.

‘I drank everything I could get my hands on: wine, whisky, vodka, beer… I didn’t stop drinking and in the end, I had to leave Inter,’ he said. 

In his interview with The Player’s Tribune, Adriano insisted he never used drugs, but said he was a fiendish drinker and continued to imbibe even when he left Italy and returned to play in Brazil.

‘Listen, if you test my piss — hand to God — you’re not going to find any drugs in my system. The day that I do drugs is the day that my mom and nan will die. 

‘But you know what? You will definitely find some booze. That piss cup is probably going to turn cloudy like a caipirinha!’ he joked.

The videos that emerged last week of an inebriated Adriano holding a beer on the streets in Brazil suggest those drinking habits may never have disappeared. 

Drug trafficking charges, guns – and retirement

It was after his return to Brazil in 2009 that Adriano spiralled further into his depressive abyss and appeared to descend into the underworld of the favelas in which he was born. 

Photos emerged of Adriano shoulder to shoulder with suspected narco lords touting AK47s and in 2010 he was suspected of having links to drug traffickers after a motorbike he allegedly purchased was used in dealing operations by a cartel local to Vila Cruzeiro. 

One year later, while leaving a club with several women on Christmas Eve, he is believed to have accidentally shot one of the women in the hand after taking a gun from his bodyguard and waving it around. 

Adriano never ended up in prison – he was never prosecuted following the shooting, while the charges brought against him in 2014 over the drug trafficking allegations in 2010 were ultimately dropped.

He staunchly maintained his innocence throughout and said he ‘never hurt anyone – only myself’.  

However, these incidents – not to mention countless stories reported by Brazilian and Italian media of out-of-control parties, the soliciting of prostitutes and a litany of other controversies – put paid to any possibility of Adriano ending his career on a high. 

The final years of his footballing life were characterised by a string of brief, unfulfilled contracts, and he ultimately retired in 2016 at the age of 34 after spending just five months with Miami United.

It was the fourth deal in a row which fell apart in under a year. 

Life after football and divorce 

After concluding his career in 2016, Adriano largely dropped off the radar of football fans, pundits and journalists alike.

But his eyebrow-raising escapades have prevented him from falling into total obscurity. 

One of the more recent tales of debauchery emerged in 2022 amid the Qatar World Cup in which the former Brazilian international split from his wife after just 24 days of marriage.

Adriano, who was 40 at the time, tied the knot in early November with Micaela Mesquita – a model some 15 years his junior – after a tumultuous relationship that saw them split up and reunite up to five times before deciding to press on with the nuptials. 

But Mesquita claims her newlywed spouse promptly disappeared for several days without a word of warning. 

It was later revealed he had returned to the streets of Vila Cruzeiro, reuniting with old buddies to watch World Cup fixtures during a two-day alcohol-fuelled bash.

For Mesquita, that was the final straw and she called for a divorce. 

Months later, on his 41st birthday, images of the former striker partying on a boat were shared online. 

The footballing legend was seen sipping cocktails and flipping off the camera before later cosying up to red-headed Brazilian model Raquel Bastos while still technically married to Mesquita.

Mesquita delivered a sharp response to the pictures which seemed to shatter any glimmer of hope that her and her husband could reconcile. 

‘Oh how beautiful! I wish you all the happiness in the world. Adriano, send me the divorce papers.

‘Even apart, I never forget today’s date. Happy birthday!… you idiot.’

Where is Adriano now? 

In 2024, Adriano’s playing days are long gone and February 2025 will bring his 43rd birthday. 

His beard is greying, his tattoos have faded and the bulging biceps and six-pack abs have been replaced with a pot belly and double chin. 

The emergence of a clip that purportedly showed him day-drinking in his childhood favela last week fuelled concern that he was never able to shirk the trappings of alcoholism.

He was seen stumbling about the streets barefoot in broad daylight, sticking out his tongue and wildly gesturing to those around him with a chaotic smile plastered across his face. 

The Brazilian legend was later seen sitting against a lamppost and staring into space as he gently swayed back and forth in uncomfortable footage that ignited a debate on social media.

Some lamented Adriano’s decline as a tragic implosion and pointed to the video as evidence that he was still battling his demons. 

But others argued the former footballer remains extremely well off, lives in an upmarket part of Rio de Janeiro and simply chooses to visit the favelas to spend time with the community that raised him. 

One user wrote: ‘Adriano lives in one of the richest areas in Rio de Janeiro, he also goes back to the community he grew up in to hang out with friends and enjoy life. 

‘He went through depression and alcoholism after his father died,’ the comment read, concluding: ‘This app is full of imbeciles.’ 

For all the speculation, Adriano himself in 2021 declared he was content with his life and reminded fans and critics alike he is surrounded by the people responsible for his upbringing and some of his fondest memories. 

‘I had a hell of a life, brother,’ he told The Player’s Tribune. 

‘I was very proud to be The Emperor. But without Adriano, The Emperor is useless.

‘Adriano does not wear a crown. Adriano is the boy from the slums who was touched by God.

‘Do you understand now? Adriano did not disappear into the favelas. He just went home.’

Irrespective of his troubles, one thing is indisputable – Adriano remains a treasured icon in his community and is revered by his former clubs. 

Last week, a new football pitch was opened in Vila Cruzeiro in his honour. 

At the opening ceremony, the former striker appeared enthusiastic and happy to reveal that he will participate in a friendly match alongside his former Flamengo teammates against another former club, Inter Milan, next month.