Brazilian star leaves trail of destruction across Sao Paolo

Inter Milan’s troubled Brazilian Adriano, whom they farmed out on loan to Sao Paolo so that someone else could clean up after him, could find himself shipped back to Milan following 48 hours spent leaning on the self-destruct button.

Adriano’s problems started last Thursday when he was the only player to get off the plane following his team’s return from a Copa Libertadores match in Colombia not wearing Sao Paolo’s official travel uniform, the kind of detail capable of setting the Brazilian public a-twitter. This earnt him a public reprimand from club president Juvencio Juvenal, although officials later claimed he had been given permission to change as he had “been sweating a lot”.

The following day he turned up for training half an hour late, promptly fell out with the fitness coaches and stormed off, although not before stopping to share this thought - “If you take another picture I’ll smash you in the face” - with a photographer.

Early the next day, at a quarter to five in the morning to be exact, his Porsche was in an accident with another car. The good news is that a friend was driving, the bad news is that the other vehicle was driven by a prominent newspaper journalist, who happily shared the details with his readers. President Juvenal was swiftly back on the phone to his now contrite star.

Mr Adriano, known as “the Emperor” in Italy, then chose to hold a press conference to make it clear where the blame for his behaviour lay - with the press. “When I came to Sao Paolo I said that perhaps it wasn’t the best thing for you to call me the Emperor,” he said, “but now I think you should. Yes, I am the Emperor and I deserve that name, because I worked hard to “conquer” it, and I won’t let you journalists destroy it.”

Adriano’s next pay cheque will be 40 per cent lighter.