Former Inter Milan striker Adriano has opened up about a poignant Christmas memory from his time in Italy, revealing the emotional struggle he faced being away from his family during the holidays.
“When I went to Inter, the shock was intense during the first winter,” Adriano began. “Christmas came, and I was alone in my apartment. It was freezing cold in Milan. I felt that depression that comes in the cold, grey months of northern Italy. People all dressed in dark colors. The streets deserted. The days are so short. The weather is damp. You don’t feel like doing anything, my friend.”
The Brazilian recounted a particular Christmas when he was invited to teammate Clarence Seedorf’s house for dinner. “Seedorf was truly a great friend,” Adriano said. “He and his wife organized a dinner for their closest friends and invited me. You know, that guy has a style that’s off the charts. Imagine Christmas dinner at his place. It was incredibly refined. Everything was beautiful and delicious, but the truth is, I wanted to be in Rio de Janeiro.”
Despite the lavish setting, Adriano’s heart was elsewhere. “I didn’t stay long. I apologized, said goodbye quickly, and returned to my apartment,” he admitted. Upon returning home, he called his family in Brazil.
“Hi mom. Merry Christmas,” Adriano recalled saying. His mother’s response tugged at his heartstrings: “My son! I miss you so much. Merry Christmas to you too. Everyone’s here, you’re the only one missing.”
The sounds of laughter and music in the background painted a vivid picture of the festivities he was missing. “You could hear the dance music my aunts play to remember their youth blasting. What? Those ladies dance like they’re still at the disco. Even my mother, always the same,” Adriano reminisced.
The stark contrast between his solitude in Italy and the joyous family gathering in Brazil overwhelmed him. “Just hearing all that noise on the phone, I felt like I could see them right in front of me. Man, I started crying immediately,” he confessed.
When his mother inquired about his well-being, Adriano tried to maintain composure. “Yeah, yeah. I just got back from a friend’s house,” he told her. The mention of his grandmother’s pasteis, a Brazilian pastry, was the final straw. “Man, that was a low blow. Grandma’s pasteis are the best in the world. I really started crying then. Hard. I even began to sob,” Adriano revealed.
After the call, Adriano’s emotions got the better of him. “I was in pieces. I took a bottle of vodka. Without exaggerating. I drank it all by myself. I filled myself with vodka. I cried all night. I fell asleep on the couch, I had drunk and cried so much.”
Reflecting on that difficult night, Adriano acknowledged the bigger picture: “But that’s how it was, right? What could I have done? I was in Milan for a reason. It was what I had dreamed of all my life. God had given me the opportunity to become a footballer in Europe. My family’s life improved a lot thanks to my hard work and everything He did for me. And what they did for me too. That price, in the end, was small to pay, compared to everything that was happening and would still happen. I was aware of it. But that didn’t make the sadness go away.”
