Adriano was touted as the heir to Ronaldo and was a cult hero in Brazil before his career declined rapidly amid battles with depression and alcohol.
‘The Emperor’ had all the attributes you wanted in a striker. He was fast, powerful, skilful with the ball at his feet and had a lethal shot on him.
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Fans of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 will remember the ridiculous 99 shot power that made him unstoppable.
Despite his relatively successful career, he won six league titles and the Copa America, he never quite fulfilled his potential.
As a teenager, he enjoyed a rapid rise into the Flamengo first-team and made his debut for Brazil as an 18-year-old.
Adriano was quickly snapped up by Inter before joining Parma, via Fiorentina, in a complicated co-ownership deal – which also saw Fabio Cannavaro move to Inter.
At Parma, he formed an impressive partnership with Adrian Mutu and scored 22 times in just 36 appearances.
By January 2004, he was re-signed by Inter where he would go on to hit his peak.
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The 2004/05 season saw him hit 28 goals in all competitions as he helped them win the Coppa Italia.
Adriano was instrumental in helping Brazil win the 2004 Copa America and won the Golden Boot with seven goals in the competition.
Big things were expected from the then 22-year-old with Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira predicting a tremendous career.
“He will be making history in football,” said Parreira. “He will play in the next three World Cups, for sure.”
Adriano had scored a dramatic equaliser against Argentina in the final and Brazil went on to win the penalty shootout.
After the game, he said: “This title belongs to my father. He is my great friend in life; my partner. Without him I am nothing.”
Nine days after his heroics for his country, his father, Almir, died of a heart attack.
The loss hit him hard and he turned to alcohol to cope.
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“At that time, I only felt happy when I drank,” Adriano said in a 2017 interview. “I could only sleep if I drank. My [Inter] coach, Roberto Mancini, and my team-mates noticed that I was hungover when I arrived for training. And I feared arriving too late, so I didn’t sleep and went to training still drunk. I slept in the medical department and Inter had to tell journalists that I had muscular pain.”
His former Inter Milan teammate Javier Zanetti said the players knew how much Adriano was struggling and tried to help.
“Adriano had a father who looked after him a lot and kept him in line. But then something unimaginable happened: he got a call from Brazil and was told that his father had died.
“I saw him cry. He threw the phone down and started screaming. From that day on, [Inter chairman Massimo] Moratti and I decided to take him in like a brother and protect him.
“He kept playing football, scoring goals and pointing to the sky, dedicating them to his father.
“But after that phone call, nothing was the same. Ivan Cordoba spent one night with him and said, ‘Adri, you’re a mix of Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Are you aware that you could become the best player ever?’ But we didn’t ever succeed in pulling him out of depression.”
Despite his problems off the field, the Brazilian kept scoring goals and helped them to the first of four Serie A titles he would win with Inter.
His form also continued with the national side as he helped them lift the Confederations Cup in 2005 and was part of the much vaunted ‘magic quartet’ for the 2006 World Cup alongside Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka.
Adriano struggled in Germany, though, and scored just twice in the group stages as they were dumped out of the tournament by France in the quarter-finals.
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The striker’s conduct off the pitch came under increasing scrutiny as he was caught partying in nightclubs before games in the 2006/07 season.
Then Brazil manager Dunga dropped him from the squad and told him he needs to ‘change his ways’.
Robert Mancini got fed up of his antics too and dropped him for a Champions League match because he skipped a team meeting due to the effects of a birthday celebration.
In 2007, Inter owner Massimo Moratti sent him to Brazil on unpaid leave and even though he was still just 25 by this stage, his career was rapidly declining.
A loan deal with Santos was agreed but trouble continued to follow him. He was sent off for head butting a Santos full back and arrived late for training.
He was sent back to Italy but coach Jose Mourinho was not happy with his physical condition and told him to lose weight.
In 2009, his contract with Inter was ‘rescinded’ and he re-signed with his boyhood team Flamengo.
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Adriano enjoyed something of a renaissance with the Brazilian club where he helped them to the league title with 19 goals in the season.
A brief stint with Roma lasted just a few months when he failed to turn up for a medical and had his contract torn up.
Adriano barely kicked a ball after his 30th birthday with his last appearance for a club coming in 2016 for lower league American side Miami United.
He currently lives in Rio de Janeiro and was seen spending his time with old friends in the favela where he grew up, riding around on scooters and handing out Big Macs to kids in the area.
He has never been far from controversy, though, and in 2014 was charged by Brazilian prosecutors due to alleged links to a drug lord.
Adriano was said to have given a drug dealer a motorbike that was later used in criminal activities but the charges were eventually dropped due to lack of evidence.
Adriano’s story is one of sadness. He had the potential to be one of the sport’s all-time greats but problems off the pitch got in the way of living up to the undoubted talent he possessed.
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