Surprise, surprise. Adriano screws up again.

Less than two weeks into his new stay at Flamengo, the man they used to call The Emperor missed training and failed to contact the club and say why.

He was supposed to turn up at the club’s training ground this afternoon but was posted AWOL.

Adriano was drummed out of several clubs in Europe and South America for breaches of discipline but that didn’t stop the Rio club signing him last month.

That was not a major surprise because anything goes at Flamengo, one of the most disorganised and poorly run clubs in world football.

Football fans like myself just sighed and shook our heads and asked, How long till he’s involved in one scandal or another?

The answer was not very long. It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic.