Adriano Controversy Continues

March 9th, 2010 | by: Duvel | Comments (8)

Adriano has been the dominant story in the Brazilian sports press all week. After the bizarre encounter with his ex-girlfriend last week, he showed up to Flamengo practice today with…you know it, his ex-girlfriend, now again current girlfriend, Joana Machado. This comes after Fla official Marcos Braz told Globo that the player had started his boozing habit again, a habit which has plagued him for years during his career.

Adriano’s agent responded to these alcohol allegations by stating, “When he was in Milan he had counseling with experts, but the type of cure proposed was rejected by the Calcio world…When I took him to Flamengo I advised everyone on the situation, but when you win you forget everything…Even an Inter medic had said that Adriano was not an alcohol dependant.” Whatever that means.

Adriano did not go on Flamengo’s trip to Venezuela to face Caracas FC in the Copa Libertadores today. He has missed 11 training sessions over the last two weeks. His personal life is something that should be private. However, these antics today, bringing Machado to training, are absurd and only invites this criticism. This is a player that clearly does not care. If Dunga selects him for the national team this summer it will be a huge amount of hypocrisy from a man who is claiming that off-the-pitch antics are not tolerated on the team.

In another bit of news, the CBF released the schedule for this year’s Brasileiro. That full schedule can be found here. After a down to the wire finish last season, this one should be just as intriguing with Robinho and Roberto Carlos’ return, not to mention the emergence of future superstars Neymar, Wellington Silva, and Walter.