“I trained drunk while at Real Madrid”- Former defender Cicinho admits drinking alcohol during training sessions
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Former Brazil international defender Cicinho has spoken out about his alcoholism and admitted to arriving at Real Madrid training sessions drunk. The right-back joined Los Blancos in the summer of 2005 and spent two seasons in Madrid, making 32 appearances. He joined Roma in 2007 and spent five years with the club, including loan spells at Sao Paulo and Villarreal.
Cicinho admitted in 2012 that he “smoked and got drunk” while being dropped from the Roma squad and that “I didn’t do drugs because of the anti-doping tests.” Later, he admitted to smoking two packs of cigarettes per day and claimed that his problems began when he joined Madrid.
Cicinho was one of the brightest prospects to come out of Brazil back in 2005
After helping Sao Paulo win the Copa Libertadores, the Brazilian league title, and the Club World Cup, Cicinho joined the Spanish giants as one of South America’s most in-demand players. Despite making over 250 senior appearances and being capped 15 times by the Brazilian national team, the defender failed to live up to his early expectations.
Now, the right-back has opened up about his struggles off the field on EPTV’s Ressaca program. He also mentioned how easy it was for him to become addicted to alcohol and how he hid his drinking from his teammates.
Cicinho admits he used to turn up to Real Madrid and Roma training sessions drunk and how he would hide it from teammates
“If you ask me if I’ve ever been drunk to train with Real Madrid, I have,” Cicinho explained. “I drank coffee to mask the odour on my breath and doused myself in perfume. It was simple in my line of work as a professional footballer. I didn’t need money to get a drink; people in restaurants gladly gave it to me.”
“When I was 13 years old, that’s when I tried alcohol for the first time, and I never stopped,” the former right-back said of his drinking problem. “I lived in the country, and on weekends, my friends and I would go out to clubs and discos.”
Cicinho’s struggle with alcoholism did not end when he moved to Roma. The 41-year-old admits to being drunk at Giallorossi training, though club officials were quicker to notice this time.
Speaking about his time in Rome, Cicinho said “I would start drinking after training. I would do work with the physiotherapist, I’d go home at 2pm, 2.30pm and would only stop drink at 4am. Every time I turned up drunk at Roma, the directors lost more faith in me.”
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Cicinho is now down the path of redemption and educating others about the ill effects of alcohol on individuals and their household
The 41-year-old former player is now sober and has warned of the dangers of alcohol, “Alcohol surrounds you with people who like that lifestyle, and people who truly love you are left out. I have a 15-year-old son and I am always apologising to him. At that time he was two years old and he did not even understand it well, but that is what I remember in my head.”
Cicinho now being sober is on a mission to help others who are struggling with alcoholism. “Football was a phase in my life. Now my phase is to show my testimony and help people so that they don’t fall down the road where I fell. I give motivational conferences. I’m not in a condition to play, my mind is that of an ex-soccer player, and my body is used to it.”
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Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)