Danilo, Juventus captain: I was ready to stop playing football at Real Madrid

Juventus captain Danilo admits he was considering retiring at Real Madrid.

Danilo would eventually become the star of Manchester City and now Juve.

But he reminded The Players’ Tribune: “During my first season at Real Madrid, I was depressed. I was lost, I felt useless. On the field, I couldn’t make a five-yard pass. Off the pitch, it was like I couldn’t even move,” admitted the Juventus captain.

“My passion for football disappeared and I saw no way out. I wanted to go back home to Brazil and never play football again.

“I didn’t see myself as Baianinho, Baiano’s son (that’s what they call my father). I saw myself as Danilo, the “31 million euro transfer” – the most expensive defender Real Madrid had ever bought at the time.

“When we played Alavés a few months into the season, Theo Hernández stole the ball from me and crossed for Deyverson to score. We still won 4-1, but that’s a mistake you can’t make at Real Madrid. I will never forget coming home that night and not being able to sleep.

“I wrote in my diary: I think it’s time to stop playing football. I was 24 years old. »

He also said: “What part of me was really feeling the pressure? The one who was a revelation as a right back in Porto? Or the boy from Bicas who suddenly signed with the biggest team in the world? The answer was clear. You will always be the boy inside.

“I didn’t tell anyone how I felt,” he continued.

“Casemiro tried to help me, but I “swallowed the frog”, as they say. And it kept growing. But after a few months of suffering, I started seeing a psychologist and he really saved my career. The most important lesson he taught me was to see the game again through the eyes of a child.

“When you play football as a kid, you never think too much, do you? Your body and mind are in sync. Basically: you don’t care if you make mistakes. You just play. Suddenly , I stopped thinking of myself as Danilo, the transfer of 31 million euros.

“I started to think of myself as Danilo de Bicas, the boy who always closed my locker at América Mineiro because I kept a roll of toilet paper there like it was gold.