Adriano

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The number of caps and number of goals mentioned below are as of May 15th 2006, when the Brazilian roster was announced.
The number after Caps represent the number of times the player was rostered, and, between parenthesis, the number of times he actually played.

Adriano
Full name: Adriano Leite Ribeiro
Date of birth: February 17th 1982
Place of birth: city of Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro
Position: center forward
Height: 1.89 m
Clubs and teams: Flamengo, Fiorentina (Italy), Parma (Italy) and Internazionale (Italy)
Caps: 45 (33)
Goals scored: 22
World Cups: none
Titles won: America Cup (2004) and Confederations Cup (2005)

Could a team afford to release Ronaldo, the Phenomenon, and not miss him?
In the America Cup 2004, Ronaldo said he was feeling tired, and asked coach Parreira to have some vacations. Parreira agreed (not very happy) and Adriano, who was hitherto a substitute, played all matches in the Cup. Adriano scored decisive goals and was the main striker and most important Brazilian player in that Cup.
Again, in the Confederations Cup 2005, Ronaldo could not go, this time because of an injury. And again, not only Adriano performed well, he was awarded the Golden Ball (Best Player of the Tournament) and the Golden Shoe (Top Goal scorer).
Today, if Parreira decides that either one of Ronaldo or Adriano must leave the team, nobody knows which one it would be.

In Milan, Adriano is called "the Emperor", a reference to Hadrian, one of the most famous Roman emperors. In 2006, Adriano didn't do as well as in 2005; some say that he is in conflict with coach Roberto Mancini, which could result even in Adriano leaving Internazionale after the Cup.


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