Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Jardel recalled his 2004 spell at Ancona: "I have only bad memories. I wasn't paid for six months and played just three matches. The squad was packed with players, badly managed, and the club went bankrupt at the end of the year. I got on well with Sonetti and Galeone, much less so with the fans."
Why was that?
"I was 31, I was overweight and someone called me 'Lardel'. Probably because, when I was introduced before the match against Perugia, I greeted the wrong stand: we had the same colours. Some fans took offence at that."
Jardel also spoke about his omission from the 2002 World Cup squad and the descent that followed: "I fell into depression and began drinking excessively. Playing in a World Cup was my lifelong dream. My first wife left me and there were problems over custody of the children. I felt everything slipping away, but the worst was yet to come. In the summer of 2003, I tried cocaine. I was on holiday and knew I could take it then because there was no doping testing. I liked it; it made me feel alive and not depressed. Once I stayed awake for an entire week. Then I overdosed, nearly died, and a friend who was with me saved me. That was when I hit rock bottom."
How did you come through it?
"I spent months talking to psychiatrists. I finally came through it when I met my second wife, Sandra: she helped me understand the meaning of life, and today I'm happy."