Teams from Brazil, Portugal and Turkey were the ones who were able to enjoy it in their relentless scoring role. Until he left Sporting Lisbon in 2003, he had scored 352 goals in 13 years. Then, just 18 in 7, until his retirement in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Taawon. There were 12 clubs in his times of debacle, in which excesses, drugs, the night and depression undermined his career.
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“It was eight to nine years in which I walked in a very cruel world,” he said in an interview with Globe Sports. “If it were active today it would be worth between 150 and 200 million euros. I think I made history, I am unique. And I say it humbly. Lewandowski is the only player who scores 55 or 60 goals a year and I did it for six or seven years in a row ”, declared.
In 1999 he was the Golden Boot with 36 points. In 2000 he was nominated for the Ballon d’Or, an award won by the Portuguese Luis Figo. He shared the candidacy with names of the stature of Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Gabriel Batistuta, Rivaldo and Raúl. I was at the top. It aroused the interest of Barcelona; also the Galatasaray. He chose Turkey, where he maintained the romance with the goal scoring: 34 goals in 43 games. Two of them served for his team to beat Real Madrid in the final of the 2000 European Super Cup, played in Monaco.
Christian tutor
From Galatasaray he went to Sporting Lisbon, Portugal again, where he was already a legend: 67 wins in 62 games. Two Olympic rounds. Another Golden Boot, in 2002. And the role of being Cristiano Ronaldo’s tutor. Those who knew him in Portugal say that Cristiano learned from Super Mario the secrets of getting up and heading the way he does today. “This is not an exaggeration,” he says. “He certainly learned a lot from me. And I made a lot less money than they did today. But he learned a lot. If you have the opportunity to ask Cristiano Ronaldo if he remembers Jardel in training, he will say yes. If he says no, he is lying ”, he said in the aforementioned interview.
From there he went through different teams but his addiction to drugs made him not fit in any. “I entered that world out of curiosity when I played for clubs in Europe. I met some people and they offered me cocaine. I started to consume it regularly when I was on vacation because during the competition I had anti-doping controls. It is one of the problems of football. You have a lot of money and there are many traps, friendships, temptations and curiosities ”.
Deputy tried for political corruption
After retiring from football he entered politics but the experience was not much better. On December 22, 2016, he was stripped of his mandate as a regional deputy for the state of Rio Grande do Sul after leading a corruption scandal. He was charged with conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, extortion and falsification of documents.
In his native Fortress and in the Church, he confessed that he found the way out. “I was taking a lot of medicine for depression and I started looking for the Church. Everyone has their religion and it must be respected. My wife, Sandra, was also very helpful. It’s a fight. Is not easy. It is a new life, without drinking, without drugs, “he said.
Last January, the humble Serpense Union of Portugal announced its signing as a “training coordinator”, from where he seeks to start his new life.
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/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/larazon/A3ZDCGKGZBAQJAOKL45JZSWNZY.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "the story of the man who taught Cristiano to head")
