Brazilian Danilo spent two seasons at Real Madrid, a period the player doesn’t remember only fondly, and he claims he needed help to get through it.
Signed in 2015 from Porto for €31 million, a hefty fee at the time, right-back Danilo arrived in Madrid as Dani Carvajal’s backup.
Unfortunately for him, Danilo Luiz da Silva never found his place at Real Madrid.
Worse still, he lost his way both athletically and mentally.
Two years after his arrival, he was off to Manchester City.
He then continued his career in Italy, where he played for Juventus, before returning to Brazil to play for Flamengo.
At 33, the Brazilian spoke to The Guardian about his career and his time in Spain and England, praising Pep Guardiola, who was already the Citizens’ coach when he joined.
The Madrid nightmare
Then, when it came to discussing his two years at Real Madrid, the Brazilian was much less enthusiastic… “Real Madrid was the culmination of this problem, because it’s the biggest club in the world. I suffered so much at Real Madrid that I had to seek psychological help. At times, I felt like I didn’t know how to play football anymore.
The criticism hurt so much. I was completely caught up in the cycle, in social media, in everything.” That’s when I started working with a sports psychologist,” he admits.
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