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A good article from the usually Cr@p mag goal.com... puts it as it is, with a little touch of melodrama of course.
The Fall Of The Emperor
In our latest editorial, we look back on the recent controversy involving Adriano...
Once upon a time there was a Brazilian starlet who lived in Milan and was called L’Imperatore by his legion of adoring fans. He was a powerfully built man-child who was more physically and technically gifted than almost all of his peers, his dynamic goals and Herculean strength being the envy of opposing players and fans alike.
He was the toast of the town, the man of the hour, a godsend who was widely heralded as the saviour for a team that desperately wished for one. His dazzling displays in the Serie A and Confederations Cup in 2005 put many teams in a frenzied pursuit of the Brazilian with the magic left foot. His club, Inter, were turning down offers as high as 50 million pounds for his services. Indeed, his supporters gushed that he was going to lead Inter to the Promised Land. He had a beautiful girlfriend, a boatload of money and talent that most players could only dream of.
Fast forward two years later and Inter’s glorious saviour has morphed into a deflated, depressed and overweight outcast who has been ostracized to the very fringes of the first team. How times have changed. Adriano has failed to feature in the starting line-up or even on the substitutes bench in the domestic league, and his name has been excluded from Inter’s squad list for the Champions League Group Stage matches. He has been offered to a plethora of teams, all of whom have passed on the fallen star they once begged for.
So the million dollar question around Milan seems to be, how did this fairytale turn into a nightmare? The warning signs were prevalent all around the San Siro - for those who bothered to look.
Instead of being the revered figure to save the team, he turned into a destructive force. There were whispers of a falling out with Mancini as Adriano would come late to training sessions - if he bothered to even come at all. His face was plastered on the front page of the sports dailies not for his goal-scoring prowess but for his conquests in the many nightclubs Milan has to offer. There were rumours of a rift between the Brazilians and the Argentines on the team because of the allegedly unique set of rules in place for Adriano, who had apparently merited special treatment.
This squabble boiled over at a crucial moment in the season for Inter as the rift culminated into a dressing room fist-fight between Adriano and Juan Sebastian Veron at halftime of the Champions League setback against Villarreal two years ago. Inter were widely tipped to beat the ‘yellow submarine’ and advance to the Champions League semi-finals, but their subsequent loss infuriated the fans, players, coaches and even President Moratti himself. It was the low point of the nerazzuri's season, and Veron headed home in disgust to Argentina shortly after the season ended.
A year later, the Emperor repeated this mistake, also against a Spanish side in the Champions Laegue Adriano made an irresponsible decision that sabotaged his own team. He stayed out too late partying the night before the team was to fly to Valencia and was not included in the trip for the crucial match. Instead of facing questions regarding their opponent, Mancini was bombarded by questions about Adriano, who was clearly a distraction, as the nerazzuri lost their focus and crashed out of the competition long before they were expected to do so.
Is it the pressures of fame and fortune that caused his downward spiral? Is it the ancient curse of hubris that threatens to derail his once promising career? Do clubs give young players too much money and too much freedom that they are destined to go off the rails... or are they just a bunch of spoiled brats? There are no easy to answers as to why he could potentially throw his career away for late nights at the disco. We do not know what demons may be floating around in Adriano’s head.
He has told us that he is still reeling from the death of his father a couple of years back. He acknowledged that he was sent back to Brazil last year as he was suffering from bouts of depression. He admitted that he turned to alcohol to try and ease his inner pain. What we do know is at the moment Adriano is frozen out of Mancini’s squad and that he was offered to many teams on a loan deal. We also know that Moratti and Mancini have finally decided to put their foot down and try a tough-love approach with him which - including no appearances in the lucrative Champions League matches anytime soon.
So where does Adriano go from here? He can either whine and sulk on the sidelines and become a distraction for his club again or he can train hard, stay out of the limelight and repay the team for the faith and leniency they have shown him for the last two years. At the tender age of 25, it is entirely possible that L’Imperatorre can turn his fortunes around and reign supreme again for a team that is silently praying for his day of redemption.
The Fall Of The Emperor
In our latest editorial, we look back on the recent controversy involving Adriano...
Once upon a time there was a Brazilian starlet who lived in Milan and was called L’Imperatore by his legion of adoring fans. He was a powerfully built man-child who was more physically and technically gifted than almost all of his peers, his dynamic goals and Herculean strength being the envy of opposing players and fans alike.
He was the toast of the town, the man of the hour, a godsend who was widely heralded as the saviour for a team that desperately wished for one. His dazzling displays in the Serie A and Confederations Cup in 2005 put many teams in a frenzied pursuit of the Brazilian with the magic left foot. His club, Inter, were turning down offers as high as 50 million pounds for his services. Indeed, his supporters gushed that he was going to lead Inter to the Promised Land. He had a beautiful girlfriend, a boatload of money and talent that most players could only dream of.
Fast forward two years later and Inter’s glorious saviour has morphed into a deflated, depressed and overweight outcast who has been ostracized to the very fringes of the first team. How times have changed. Adriano has failed to feature in the starting line-up or even on the substitutes bench in the domestic league, and his name has been excluded from Inter’s squad list for the Champions League Group Stage matches. He has been offered to a plethora of teams, all of whom have passed on the fallen star they once begged for.
So the million dollar question around Milan seems to be, how did this fairytale turn into a nightmare? The warning signs were prevalent all around the San Siro - for those who bothered to look.
Instead of being the revered figure to save the team, he turned into a destructive force. There were whispers of a falling out with Mancini as Adriano would come late to training sessions - if he bothered to even come at all. His face was plastered on the front page of the sports dailies not for his goal-scoring prowess but for his conquests in the many nightclubs Milan has to offer. There were rumours of a rift between the Brazilians and the Argentines on the team because of the allegedly unique set of rules in place for Adriano, who had apparently merited special treatment.
This squabble boiled over at a crucial moment in the season for Inter as the rift culminated into a dressing room fist-fight between Adriano and Juan Sebastian Veron at halftime of the Champions League setback against Villarreal two years ago. Inter were widely tipped to beat the ‘yellow submarine’ and advance to the Champions League semi-finals, but their subsequent loss infuriated the fans, players, coaches and even President Moratti himself. It was the low point of the nerazzuri's season, and Veron headed home in disgust to Argentina shortly after the season ended.
A year later, the Emperor repeated this mistake, also against a Spanish side in the Champions Laegue Adriano made an irresponsible decision that sabotaged his own team. He stayed out too late partying the night before the team was to fly to Valencia and was not included in the trip for the crucial match. Instead of facing questions regarding their opponent, Mancini was bombarded by questions about Adriano, who was clearly a distraction, as the nerazzuri lost their focus and crashed out of the competition long before they were expected to do so.
Is it the pressures of fame and fortune that caused his downward spiral? Is it the ancient curse of hubris that threatens to derail his once promising career? Do clubs give young players too much money and too much freedom that they are destined to go off the rails... or are they just a bunch of spoiled brats? There are no easy to answers as to why he could potentially throw his career away for late nights at the disco. We do not know what demons may be floating around in Adriano’s head.
He has told us that he is still reeling from the death of his father a couple of years back. He acknowledged that he was sent back to Brazil last year as he was suffering from bouts of depression. He admitted that he turned to alcohol to try and ease his inner pain. What we do know is at the moment Adriano is frozen out of Mancini’s squad and that he was offered to many teams on a loan deal. We also know that Moratti and Mancini have finally decided to put their foot down and try a tough-love approach with him which - including no appearances in the lucrative Champions League matches anytime soon.
So where does Adriano go from here? He can either whine and sulk on the sidelines and become a distraction for his club again or he can train hard, stay out of the limelight and repay the team for the faith and leniency they have shown him for the last two years. At the tender age of 25, it is entirely possible that L’Imperatorre can turn his fortunes around and reign supreme again for a team that is silently praying for his day of redemption.
They'll need some good luck to find them.
