Europa League winner Fredy Guarin has bravely opened up about his relationship with alcohol, calling himself an “addict”, and has revealed that he is on his “way to recovery” in a heartfelt interview.
Throughout his footballing career, 37 year old Fredy showed off his impressive skills at a number of esteemed teams including FC Porto where he helped the team secure three Primeira Liga titles as well as the Europa League trophy. Elsewhere on the pitch, he has also played for teams including Inter Milan, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC and Millonarios FC in addition to representing Colombia at the World Cup in 2014.
But away from his footballing accolades, Fredy has recently opened up about his experience with alcohol in an interview with Semana magazine and has explained that he ended up hitting “rock bottom” three years ago. “I am a 100 percent alcoholic, and I admit it. I am an addict, on my way to recovery. At a point in my career I let myself become distracted, and I got hooked on drink. I made lots of mistakes and took wrong decisions,” he told the publication, The Sun reports.
During the interview, the footballer added that he’d “hurt so many people” including his friends and his family and revealed that he “hit rock bottom” in 2021 after leaving the Colombian club Millonarios. However, he later realised that he needed to do something about it.
“I could no longer continue like this, and had to seek professional help. I have knocked at the gates of hell. I now know which is the right path and which is the wrong one,” he added.
He continued: “My two fears are death and ending up in prison. But without knowing it, I was living in a condemned cell. When I was drunk I did not know the risks I was taking. I have lost so many friends, but others have remained by my side.”
As a result of what he’s been through, Fredy said that he has worked out who his “true friends”, after admitting that some individuals who he’d considered to be friends had “disappeared”. Paying tribute to some of those friends who’d stood by him, he credited former footballers including Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and David Ospina for being there for him during the tough moments.
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this story you can contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110. If you’re in Scotland you can contact Drinkline Scotland on 0800 7314 314.