Wesley Sneijder has revealed how he partied until 6am with George Clooney and Megan Fox before going out and scoring for Inter Milan the next day.
The Dutchman has been lifting the lid on the 'rock-n-roll' lifestyle that ruined his career at Real Madrid in his new autobiography.
But there was one occasion during his time with Inter Milan a few years later when a good night out actually helped his performance on the pitch.
Sneijder told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: 'Once me and my wife partied at an Armani show with George Clooney, Megan Fox and some Bollywood stars.
'We got home at six o'clock in the morning and the day after, I scored a goal and assisted another against Werder Bremen in the Champions League.
'After I saw that was possible, I wasn't afraid to repeat it!'
The match in question was on September 29, 2010, when reigning champions Inter thrashed Bremen 4-0 at the San Siro in a Champions League group stage fixture.
Samuel Eto'o scored a hat-trick while Sneijder scored Inter's third goal. They made the quarter-finals that season before being stunned 7-3 on aggregate by another German club - Schalke.
Sneijder was 23 when he joined Real Madrid from Ajax in 2007 in a deal worth £18.3million and was tipped to become one of the world's best players.
But he failed to live up to expectations after succumbing to the temptations of a party lifestyle in Madrid.
'I was not aware that moving to Real also meant I moved into the nightlife of Madrid,' he says in his autobiography.
'I got sucked into it. I was young, I was enjoying success and I was loving all the attention. That is where it must have gone wrong for me later in my life.
'I didn't do drugs, but I did do booze and had a rock-'n-roll lifestyle as one of the stars of Real Madrid. All the things I was up to were all covered up.
'Even when I was absolutely drunk, rolling on the streets and spending thousands of euros paying for all the drinks in every place.
'I was weak and did not show any resistance. I let people treat me like a star. There was always a team-mate with me at Real Madrid – and usually that was Guti.'
Sneijder's first wife, Ramona Streekstra, filed for divorce after growing weary of his partying, and his second marriage, to Yolanthe Cabau, also failed after he continued to drink heavily.
'I did not realise that my best friend was the vodka bottle,' he added.
'Others pointed it out to me. Ruud van Nistelrooy said it, Arjen Robben said it. They were hammering me, telling me to keep my discipline as a player. They said I wouldn't last long if I carried on like this.
'I have done a lot of partying with a lot of bad friends around and women and booze.
'It got out of hand in a terrible way. I came clean and confessed everything to my second wife, Yolanthe, and told her my heart was with her.
'I don't know what made me do it. Ego? Money. Power? Lust? Yes - but now I feel the pain because Yolanthe is now living in America.
'She was the woman of my dreams. I lost her because I ruined everything.'
After winning LaLiga in his first season at Madrid, Sneijder was sold to Inter Milan a year later, where he won Serie A, the Champions League and the Coppa Italia.
He spent four years at San Siro before moving on to Galatasaray, where he remained for four years before spells at Nice and Qatar side Al-Gharafa. He announced his retirement after leaving the club last summer.