CICINHO revealed he “drank 10 beers a day” and turned up to training drunk at Real Madrid.
The ex-Brazil right-back spent 18 months with the Spanish giants before joining Roma in August 2007.
He also won 15 caps for Brazil all between 2005 and 2006 and scored one international goal.
The star opened up on the harrowing off-field issues he endured with Real, for whom he played 32 games.
Speaking to Ressaca on Brazilian network EPTV two years ago, Cicinho delved into his battle with alcohol during his stint in Madrid.
Now 45, he admitted: “If they ask if I’ve ever been drunk to train with Real Madrid, I did.
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“I drank coffee to take my breath away and showered myself with perfume.
“In my profession, as a professional footballer, it was easy. I didn’t need money to get drinks.”
On how he fell into alcoholism, he added: “When I was 13 years old, it was when I tried alcohol for the first time, and I never stopped.
“I lived in the countryside, and on weekends, we met with friends and went out to the squares, discos.
“I asked adults to go to buy and drank secretly from my parents and the police.
“Alcohol surrounds you with people who like that lifestyle, and the people who really love you are left out. When they hit a wall and tell you it’s not okay, you don’t want to hear it.
“I have a 15-year-old son and I’m always apologising to him. At that time, he was two years old and he didn’t even understand it well, but that was recorded in my head.”
In an article for Brazilian paper Diario de Sao Paulo in 2020, he admitted that he would drink “more or less 10 beers a day”.
He then added: “And I also smoked cigarettes. I smoked for 11 years, from 1999 to 2010. I only smoked when I drank, but look what I drank… All day.”
Having recovered from his alcoholism, Cicinho, who retired in 2018, is now determined to help others.
He said: “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, my body is used to it.”
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