Ex-Real Madrid star Cicinho admits he used to turn up for training drunk amid battle with alcoholism
‘I drank coffee to remove the smell from my breath and bathed in perfume’: Ex-Brazilian star Cicinho admits he used to DRUNK up for Real Madrid training while suffering from alcoholism… after first starting out to drink at age 13 and ‘never stopped’
- Former Real Madrid defender Cicinho detailed his battle with alcoholism
- The Brazilian admits he regularly arrived drunk before training with Madrid
- He drank coffee and purposely bathed in perfume to hide its smell
- Cicinho also suffered from the problem after he left Madrid to sign for Roma
Former Real Madrid right-back Cicinho has revealed he was drunk in training with the Spanish club during a battle with alcoholism.
Cicinho spent two years at the Bernabeu after completing a 2005 transfer from Brazil’s Sao Paulo, playing 32 times for Real and receiving a La Liga winners’ medal in 2007.
He left for Roma that summer after falling out of favor under new boss Bernd Schuster, which in hindsight may have been a result of his problems off the pitch.
Ex-Real Madrid star Cicinho has revealed he showed up drunk for training with the club
Cicinho spent two years at the Bernabeu after moving from Sao Paulo in 2005
The ex-Brazilian international has spoken candidly about his struggles with alcoholism over the past decade, and now recalls arriving in Madrid for training while intoxicated.
“If you ask me if I ever went to training drunk at Real, yes. And I drank coffee to remove the smell from my breath and bathed in perfume,” he said on EPTV show Ressaca, via Goal†
“Speaking of my profession, as a former professional footballer it was easy, I didn’t need money to get it” [drink]† In restaurants, people were happy to give you everything.’
However, Cicinho’s battle with alcoholism did not end when he moved to Roma.
The 41-year-old admits he was also drunk at a training session with Giallorossi, although club officials were quicker to notice this time.
He has since admitted that his time in Spain was marred by problems with alcoholism off the pitch
About his time in Rome, Cicinho said: ‘Started drinking after training. I did the physical therapy work, came home around 2pm, 2:30pm and didn’t stop drinking until 4am
“Every time I got to Roma drunk, the leaders saw it and it discredited me.”
Cicinho, who spent five years with Roma before later living in Turkey and back in Brazil, started drinking as a teenager and soon found himself on a slippery slope.
“When I was 13 years old, I tasted alcohol for the first time, I never stopped,” he said.
‘I lived in the countryside, in Pradopolis, close to Ribeirao Preto, and on the weekends we would gather friends and go out in the squares, to the clubs.
“There was a bar nearby because I was underage, I tried to hide it, I asked who was older to buy it and I kept drinking hidden from my parents, the police.”
