Real Madrid Star Admits to Battling Depression and Considering Quitting Football
A Real Madrid star revealed in an interview with the Players Tribune that he suffered from depression upon joining the club and even considered quitting football.
Danilo, now the captain of the Brazil national team, wrote for the website about the intense pressure he and his teammates face to prove their commitment to the jersey, despite skepticism from the Brazilian public.
Describing the experience of waking up “feeling terrible, when everyone hates you, and you feel you don’t deserve to wear the jersey,” Danilo admitted he knew “that feeling well.”
“Listen, I’m human. I haven’t always been at my best. To be even more honest with you, during my first season at Real Madrid, I was depressed. I was lost, feeling useless. On the field, I couldn’t make a five-meter pass. Off the field, it was like I couldn’t even move,” Danilo explained.
“My passion for football disappeared, and I didn’t see a way out. I wanted to go back to my home in Brazil and never play football again.
“I wasn’t seeing myself as Baianinho, Baiano’s son (that’s what they call my dad). I was seeing myself as Danilo, the ’31-million euro transfer’ ($33.1 million) — the most expensive defender Real Madrid had ever bought at the time.”
Danilo recalled a match against Alaves a few months into the 2015/2016 season, when Theo Hernandez from the opposition team stole the ball from him and crossed for Deyverson to score.
Danilo unveils his future at Juventus – Sportal.eu
While Los Blancos still won 4-1, Danilo noted that it was “a mistake you can’t make at Real Madrid.” “I’ll never forget going home that night and not being able to sleep. I wrote in my journal: I think it’s time to quit football. I was 24 years old,” he said.
Danilo tried to pinpoint which part of him “was really feeling the pressure.” “The guy who had been a revelation as a right back at 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.” He continued, “I didn’t tell anyone what I was feeling. Casemiro tried to help me, but I ‘swallowed the frog,’ as they say. And it kept getting bigger.”
Danilo revealed how “after a few months of suffering,” he started seeing a psychologist who he credits with “really [saving] my career.”
Though things didn’t pan out entirely well at Real Madrid, he still picked up a pair of Champions League winner’s medals at the Bernabeu before moving on to Manchester City and then Juventus, where he has been since 2019.
Perhaps the crowning achievement of his career so far is captaining his country Brazil at the Copa America.
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