Milan - Inter Milan striker Adriano was recently described by his Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira as being like a horse and it is not only his physique that makes the simile appropriate.
Adriano has the pedigree, having learnt the game of soccer at Brazilian club Flamengo and then at Parma, the breeding ground for so many of Serie A's top performers. But his background also means he has had to leap many hurdles as he has battled his way from poverty to become one of the most feared and respected strikers in the game.
The 22-year-old Adriano's record this season for Inter speaks for itself - in 19 Serie A and Champions League matches he has scored 17 times, many of them spectacular solo strikes.
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It was always going to take someone special to help Inter fans forget the "great betrayal", when another Brazilian, Ronaldo, walked out on them for Real Madrid.
| When he was 10 years old his father was shot in the head by a stray bullet |
Inter have gained a reputation for expensive mistakes in the transfer market - bringing in players who fail to perform while selling others who go on to enjoy great careers elsewhere - and Adriano so nearly became another who slipped through their hands.
Given Adriano's personal history it is not surprising that he has been able to adapt and survive the difficult early experiences in Serie A. He grew up in the Vila Cruzeiro, a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro, his father Almir Ribeiro worked as an office boy and his mother Rosilda was only 17 when he was born.
"They didn't earn much and life was tough," the player said in a recent interview. When he was seven years old, Adriano was playing with other children when he saw a youth shot dead, apparently victim of a drugs-related fight. A number of his childhood friends have ended up as members of drugs gangs.
Then when he was 10 years old his father was shot in the head by a stray bullet during a shootout. Almir Ribeiro survived but, as he could not pay for surgery, the bullet remained lodged in his head. Adriano's father died earlier this year, apparently from a heart condition.
The striker's route out of the shanty was to join Flamengo's youth scheme but as he could not afford the bus fares to training he wore his school shirt to get a free ride. It was worth the trick. At Flamengo he worked his way up to the first team and while the fans were unimpressed by his clumsiness, Emerson Leao, Brazil's coach at the time, quickly saw his potential and he was given his international debut in November 2000 at the age of 18.
His arrival at Inter in the close season of 2001 was barely noticed - he was young and one of the lesser known players among a raft of new faces. But he made an instant impact in a pre-season friendly against Real Madrid when he scored with a thundering, long-range free-kick that was replayed throughout the summer weeks.
That was enough to ensure that he at least started the season with Inter rather than being loaned out to a minor club - the fate of so many young new arrivals at top Serie A clubs. But after just eight appearances and a single goal he was loaned to Fiorentina.
The Florence club, fighting a doomed battle against relegation and bankruptcy, hardly seemed the ideal place for an inexperienced youngster to learn his trade but his six goals in 15 games and determined displays showed he had a future in Serie A. But it was not a future with Inter.
As part of a series of transfer deals, Adriano was sold to Parma but the move at least allowed the Brazilian to get regular action. It took just one season for Inter to regret the sale as, alongside another Inter "reject", Romanian Adrian Mutu, Adriano scored 15 times for Parma.
He was in even better form in the following campaign when he hit eight goals in the opening nine games before he was sidelined by a knee injury. While he was recovering, Parma slumped into a financial crisis and it became clear that the club would have to offload their biggest asset.
There was no shortage of clubs interested in signing him but for once Inter had been smart in their dealings and, having retained part-ownership of his registration, they had first option on buying him.
Since establishing himself at Inter Adriano has also fought his way into the Brazil side and his goals helped them to win the Copa America when he finished top scorer in the tournament with seven goals.
- This article was originally published on page 38 of Cape Argus on December 04, 2004
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