The turbulent life of the brilliant and tormented center forward of Botafogo.

Rio – Heleno de Freitas was probably the first problem-star player in Brazilian football.

Heleno was born in São João Nepomuceno, Minas Gerais, on February 12, 1920. A law graduate, cultured, handsome, bohemian, a heartthrob, a bon vivant, but with an explosive, almost intractable temperament.

Discovered by Neném Prancha on Botafogo's beach soccer team, Heleno transferred to Fluminense after Botafogo closed its youth team. In 1940, he returned to Botafogo to replace Carvalho Leite (an idol and top scorer of the four-time state championship, from 1932 to 1935).

Standing at 1,82 meters tall, Heleno was a restless, combative, and technically gifted center forward. He experienced the pinnacle of football glory playing for Botafogo and, especially, for the Brazilian National Team. He was Botafogo's greatest idol before Garrincha. He marked his time at the club with 209 goals in 233 matches, becoming one of the greatest goalscorers in the club's history.

Possessing extraordinary talent and a volatile temper, he was often sent off for fighting with opponents, referees, and even teammates. Beyond his talent on the field, Heleno had a knack for charming women with his elegant bearing and his bohemian and seductive lifestyle.

He was part of Rio de Janeiro's jet-set of the time, frequenting the best restaurants, the best parties, and the beds of the most beautiful women—legend has it he even had an affair with Eva Perón. The player was nicknamed "Gilda" by his friends from the "Club of Scoundrels," alluding to the character played in the movies of the time by the American actress Rita Hayworth. They said Heleno played with a comb in his shorts to comb his hair after scoring headers.

He left General Severiano in 1948, when he was sold to Boca Juniors of Argentina for 600 cruzeiros, the biggest transfer on the continent. At Boca, he was unsuccessful: only 7 goals in 17 games. He returned to Brazil, signed by Vasco da Gama. At Vasco, he won the 1949 Carioca Championship with the memorable "Expresso da Vitória" (Victory Express).

In March 1950, Heleno abandoned a Vasco da Gama training session, claiming he was being sabotaged by his teammates. Reprimanded, he argued with coach Flávio Costa and had to be separated by his colleagues. He was dismissed for indiscipline and his transfer rights were put up for sale for 300 cruzeiros.

On March 13, 1950, Atlético Junior of Barranquilla acquired his rights on loan. At the club, Heleno scored 15 goals. During his time in Colombia, he earned the admiration of Gabriel García Márquez. The writer wrote that Heleno could be a superb crime novelist, due to "his sense of calculation, his calm investigative movements, and his quick and surprising results."

In January 1951, Heleno returned to Brazil and rejoined Vasco da Gama. Three months before the start of the World Cup, he was expelled from a dance for sniffing ether. Subsequently, he was put up for sale by the club after nearly coming to blows with Flávio Costa, who was also the national team coach. Offered to other clubs, Heleno was rejected by São Paulo and considered abandoning his career. He ended up agreeing to join Santos.

After a brief stint in São Paulo football, he returned to Rio de Janeiro. Promising to reform, he was signed by América, where he would end his career, having played only one match for the club from Campos Sales. He was sent off in the first half after a violent tackle on an opposing defender. That was also his last match at the Maracanã stadium.

He later tried to return to the field for Flamengo, at Kanela's suggestion, but he had a falling out with the Flamengo players in a training match and was not accepted.

In the 1945 South American Football Championship, he formed a famous attacking quintet with Zizinho, Jair da Rosa Pinto, Tesourinha, and Ademir Menezes, considered by Obdulio Varela to be the best in the history of the national team. He played 18 matches for the Brazilian National Team, scoring 15 goals, and was the tournament's top scorer with 7 goals.

Drug addiction, alcoholism, and a reckless lifestyle, however, slowly began to overcome him, and his downfall was as dizzying, swift, and intense as his rise to the top of his career. Heleno contracted syphilis, and complications arising from the disease led to his being admitted to a mental health facility in Barbacena, in the interior of Minas Gerais.

Heleno was married to Ilma, with whom he had a son, Luiz Eduardo. However, due to Heleno de Freitas' temperament, Ilma fled to Petrópolis in 1952. Luiz Eduardo—having lost contact since the separation—only heard news about his father at the age of 10, specifically about his death.

In 1956, the Botafogo team visited him at the sanatorium. They found Heleno deformed by the medication, toothless and bald. That was the first and only time Heleno was alongside the man who would become Botafogo's greatest idol: Mané Garrincha.

On the morning of November 8, 1959, the nurse went to bring him breakfast and found him dead. He was 39 years old, a victim of complications from syphilis.