In an interview with “The Guardian”, Danilo, former Brazilian defender of Juventus, currently playing for Flamengo, discusses various topics, ranging from his career to the importance of mental health.
“The coach who changed my mindset? Pep Guardiola. Pep instructs his players. This is the most important thing about his job. He makes all players think about football in the same way. Time, space, movement, possession, taking care of the ball. He makes you understand the spaces on the field like no other coach and experiences the game emotionally like no other. Guardiola brainwashed me, but in a positive way. It was like being at university. What I experienced with him allowed me to raise my level and maintain it to this day. It`s not that I was an idiot before arriving at Manchester City, but I realized I was playing football in the completely wrong way. If I had met him earlier, he would have made my life much easier.”
“Manchester City`s crisis? Football is cyclical. There are many players who are now 33, 34 years old and have been at the top of their game for eight, nine, 10 years. This drop in performance is natural. You also have to look at the mental aspect. When I talk about age, it`s not even physical. It`s the experience of being under so much pressure for so many years, the pressure to win and win always. When you lose, the feeling is that everything has gone wrong and you feel less valuable, incapable. It`s difficult to balance these feelings. That`s why when you win, you only feel relief. However, with age comes a better understanding and it is easier to reflect on some of the defeats and victories.”
“Social media? As much as we say we don`t care about these things, after all we are human beings. You can`t help but feel it. I`m not addicted to social media, I`m not a very attached type. But we want to be accepted by people, we want to receive positive feedback. Nobody wants negative feedback. No matter how much you study, how much you care about your mental health, how mature you are, you want to be accepted. And social media is a toxic environment. Toxic at all levels.”
“At Real Madrid I suffered a lot to the point of seeking psychological help. There were times when it seemed like I no longer remembered how to play football. The criticisms really hurt me. I was completely hostage to criticism, social media, everything. That`s when I started working with a sports psychologist.”
“Mental health? I`ll say it bluntly: clubs will only do something when they realize the financial damage they are suffering. Look at how many players who were stars at youth level and who did not enter the professional game because of this avalanche of criticism. When you arrive, there is a lot of money, women and fame. But how to deal with it? We all know someone who has lost their way in football. When clubs realize how many players they are losing due to emotional and psychological problems, they will think twice and start investing because this is a technical and financial value for the team. And this is disgusting because they don`t care about the human being. We need to humanize football more. People still ignore it, they don`t like to talk about it. But when it comes to the financial aspect, they care.”
“If I will be a coach after retirement? Zero. No chance. I think football still has a lot to give me, but when I`m done, I`ll need to turn the page in my life. I want to start university, I want to study psychology, I want to study communication. Life is unpredictable and I have learned to allow myself to change my mind.”