Guarin confesses: “I was unmanageable, the managers wanted to take me away from Milan”

A past marked by alcohol, depression, and moments when he risked taking his own life. Fredy Guarin, former midfielder of Inter, gave an interview to Gazzetta dello Sport in which he retraced the most difficult period of his career, coinciding with the years spent in Milan.

“Inter has remained in my heart, my dream was to return to San Siro and last year I made it come true,” said the Colombian. “I regret not having performed at my best in the Nerazzurri shirt. I was always loyal, even when I was about to move to Juventus. I didn’t want to leave.” He then added that he had the chance to transfer to Galatasaray, but stayed, and carries with him the sadness for how things turned out: “I failed all my goals, both football and personal.”

At the center of the story is his relationship with alcohol, described not as a social matter but as a real obsession. “I drank alone, everywhere: at home, at the restaurant, after training and after matches. Football for me was an outlet, only on the pitch could I disconnect. Then I would go home and get drunk alone. I had entered a loop I couldn’t get out of.”

The situation became so serious that the management had to intervene. “The directors told my agents to take me away from Milan and from Italy: I had become unmanageable.” Leaving the city, however, changed nothing. Guarin recounted that he hit rock bottom, that he risked taking his own life several times, and that he lived through a period of total loss of control. “Depression and alcohol are two monsters that drag you to hell,” he said, also quoting a phrase he had tattooed: ‘I am afraid of death and prison’.

Today Guarin describes a phase of recovery. “I hit rock bottom, now I am climbing back up. I feel better, I am chasing happiness. I tell my experience to the younger ones so that it can help them not to make mistakes.”