The protective sleeve on Danilo’s right knee hides the physical scars. Behind a glistening white smile and an affable, engaging personality, the mental traumas are being addressed day by day.
Pre-season is a time to look to the future rather than to look back. For Danilo, no preview of what will come can be done without considering where he has been and what he has emerged through. It has shaped him as a player and a person.
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On December 6 last year, Danilo suffered an injury that would end his campaign and undermine Philippe Clement’s season. Last Saturday, he was back on the pitch as Rangers rounded off their pre-season training camp in the Netherlands with a 2-1 defeat against Ajax.
The damage to his knee ligament was the second major setback of Danilo’s first term at Ibrox. Just weeks earlier, a sickening clash of heads with Liam Gordon, the St Johnstone defender, fractured his cheekbone. A mask allowed him to return on that occasion but there was no quick fix second time around.
“They said it would take time and even when I was back on the field nothing would be perfect,” Danilo tells the Rangers Review in an exclusive interview. “You build up your self-confidence and they knew what I had been through wearing my mask with the face and cheekbone. I was able to overcome that fear to be the best version of myself and they know that with my knee it will be the same situation. When I am with the boys, I just forget everything. I just want to play football and help the boys be the best possible.”
The Danilo story can be compartmentalised into the three areas that define him professionally and personally. During a sit down with the Rangers Review, Danilo speaks about his football, his family and his faith.
It is the morning after the night before at the Rangers team hotel on the outskirts of Venlo. There are sore legs and tired minds all around after an exhausting day that saw Clement’s side train and then play a behind-closed-doors fixture with Standard Liege. The session on the Thursday is light and players come and go from the breakfast room as the sun beams in through the windows and glistens off the water that surrounds this grand building.
Some of the media duties are delayed while players get themselves sorted for the day. Danilo is there on time and as agreed at 9am. He shifts his phone into the palm that holds his coffee cup and offers a handshake. In a quiet corner of the reception, he opens his heart on the most difficult and defining seven months of his career.
“It was tough, to be honest,” Danilo says. “Some days I was thinking ‘OK, why is it not going forward and why is there no progress?’ Then sometimes I wanted to rush things. I spoke with the physio and with the doctor about what we could do to be better in each situation. The next day the knee would then respond quite well and I was in a happy place again because I could see progress. Sometimes they say that the knee is unpredictable as well. One day I came to training and my knee was swelling and we didn’t know why. To be able to do everything again and have a settled knee, it is all the hard work paying off.”
The tackle that set Danilo down that road looked innocuous at first. As he challenged for the ball in the middle of the pitch, he hit the turf after a tangle of legs. The news that his coaches, teammates and supporters feared was confirmed within days.
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He recalls a conversation with his doctor after the surgery had been completed and references the darker and lighter sections of the X-ray that showed the true scale of the damage. Danilo describes the procedure as ‘huge’ and reveals that there was bone damage as well as the rupture of the cruciate ligament. At that moment, he says, he had to ‘forget how it happened’ as he put all of his time and energy into the gruelling rehabilitation schedule.
The first month was spent building himself up for the day when he could walk again. The process saw him ‘starting from zero’ as he worked to restore strength in his knee and belief in his mind. With a statement that will reassure Clement and the Rangers fans, he says ‘the good thing is that the quality is still there.’ Rangers need it to be.
In the days after the surgery to repair his shattered cheekbone in September, Rangers put Danilo in touch with a mental wellbeing coach to aid his recovery. He became the masked man of the Ibrox squad and went on to score three times for Clement’s side in the dramatic wins over Hearts and Sparta Prague and a 5-0 victory at Dundee.
Those were the happier times of Danilo’s first season at Ibrox. During the stressful and soul-searching ones, he could find comfort in them. Overcoming his facial injury was one thing, but the schedule with his knee – the hours alone in the gym, the frustration and the uncertainty – was gruelling for the 25-year-old to live and work through.
“I remember my first time in the pool trying to do my first steps,” Danilo says. “When I look back on those things, it makes me even more motivated to be the best version of myself for this year. She [Danilo's physcologist[ was trying to encourage me to look at the positive things, to take me away from the negatives. Those were the things that she was trying to remind me and put in my knee. The days when I woke up and I don’t see any progression, I had to think about doing my first steps, or when I only had one of my crutches or I could walk again. Every situation and every part of my progress I had positive things to look at. It has been a long, long road to be honest.”
On Saturday, he reached another marker post. That beaming grin was visible once again as he took part in the warm-up in the compact surroundings of the WHC Sportpark in Wezep. For one afternoon only, this was Danilo’s field of dreams.
He was greeted by friendly faces from his time at Ajax as former teammates and coaches caught up with him, checking on his progress and wishing him well for the future. The minutes he earned off the bench cannot be judged in performance terms, but their significance cannot be understated for Danilo as he took another small but significant step.
The road has not travelled been alone. Danilo provided regular updates on his progress on his social media accounts, giving supporters an insight into his Auchenhowie existence. He describes his Christian faith as ‘the most important thing in my life’ and posts of him in the gym or on the training pitch were regularly accompanied by motivational messages or verses from the Bible.
“I have accepted Jesus in my life and since then everything just changed,” Danilo says. “What we say in the Bible is that we don’t live by seeing but we live by the faith in us. That was the main thing that I carried with me. Every day is a new opportunity to live and that is why you have to be thankful. Every day you have an opportunity to do what we didn’t do yesterday. With my family, they always try to make me positive and support me. They are always there for me since I was a kid. I am always grateful for everything that my mum and my dad have done for me so far.”
The family was extended in March as he and wife Tess welcomed daughter Naya Rose into the world. Whatever darkness Danilo encountered, his daughter provided the light.
His parents were regular visitors to Holland during his seasons with Ajax and Feyenoord, who he left in a £6million deal to move to Rangers. Glasgow is now very much home for the Sao Paulo native and he jokes about some of the challenges his parents face – most notably the speed at which Scots speak – when they arrive here to visit their new granddaughter.
“My family is really important to keep making you smile, keeping making you positive, keeping making you happy,” Danilo says. “When you are on the field, you are then the man to do your job. You get criticism but they are there to support and we want to make things better. It is impossible to be perfect. When you have a hard day or things are difficult, it is good to have your family there to bring you up and then the next day is a new day to make things different. They always support me. That is why I want them around. It was a blessing to have my daughter and every situation I face, a positive one or a negative one, I always look at her and she makes things better and different.”
The new campaign offers new challenges and new opportunities for Danilo. He contributed six goals and five assists from his 21 outings last term and there were flashes of the promise that convinced Michael Beale to put so much faith and so much money in him as part of a rebuild of the Ibrox attack. Just 12 months on, Clement is now going through that process once again.
The Belgian will be patient with Danilo but the excitement that swept through the support last summer will come to the fore once again. Clement admitted during a wide-ranging interview in Holland that Hamza Igamane is not ready for the full rigours of life at Ibrox and that will put pressure on Danilo to play his part, especially while the future of Cyriel Dessers is uncertain.
Danilo watched the entire Standard Liege fixture from the stands. A half week of full sessions was his next milestone as his preparations for the season were stepped up once again. The feeling of pulling on his boots is the one he worked towards for so long, but the relief and the love come as part of a concoction of emotions when he steps into the park these days.
“Every day I feel like I am ready to go,” Danilo says. “Sometimes I am a bit scared of the contact or if there is a situation where someone hits my knee and I don’t know how it will react. But it is part of my job, I will always have contact. I just have to be ready for that. It is our job. It is a risk, but every day there are risks. I am doing what I love.”
Danilo is also doing what he is good at. He arrived in Europe from Santos four seasons ago and spent two years, including a loan at FC Twente alongside new coach Andries Ulderink, on the books of Ajax before moving to Feyenoord. When he arrived in Glasgow, he insisted he had joined a bigger club as he prepared for the next chapter in his career. At 25, he is now approaching his prime years.
As a child growing up in Sao Paulo, he idolised Ronaldo. He clarifies, not that he needed to, that he means the Brazilian one before speaking of his skill and finishing prowess as two of the factors he admired most. Another legendary Samba star, Romario, is heralded for the same reasons.
The third name that comes to mind for Danilo is a modern-day forward. In Gabriel Jesus, the Arsenal striker, Danilo has someone whose game he looks to model. Jesus is not a physically imposing striker, but his speed of thought and awareness allow him to flourish. In the coming months, Danilo will look to add those attributes to the Rangers attack.
“I looked up to them and also try to make my own history,” Danilo says. “Then people can look up to me as well. I want to inspire them. I want to do everything good but there are always ups and downs in football.”
Danilo knows that better than most. There were times when it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the support of those around him and the guidance of God, he has completed an arduous journey. His next steps can now begin.
He perhaps has points to prove to himself in some regard. Some supporters will no doubt expect too much of him too soon, while others will look at the missed chances, most notably against Servette, and ponder whether Rangers have got value for money in Danilo.
Whatever successes or failures he encounters in his second season, his effort to get here and eagerness to go again cannot be doubted. Danilo would not be where he is today if he did not have the requisite talent and mentality and he will continue to push himself in the pursuit of happiness.
“I think it is everything together, to be honest,” Danilo says when asked what his motivating factors are. “In the middle of the heart, I would put success, goals, making my family proud. If you go around that, you can combine everything together you reach that point. Every day I put some goals on my agenda that I want to follow. I do everything, I give everything and then the best things will come to you. Don’t force it to get it, but let it come. I put those things on my agenda and work towards that every day.”
Given where he is starting from this season, Danilo hopes this will be a season of up and up at Ibrox. The same can be said for Rangers as a collective after a campaign that briefly brought hope of success but once again ended in defeat and desolation.
Danilo made only five starts in the Premiership before his term was ended at Tynecastle. He does not head into this season with the same baggage as so many members of Clement’s squad but he does have his own questions to answer and points to prove.
Clement addressed the mood within the support when he sat down with journalists at the team hotel. At a time when there should be a united front and shared enthusiasm, there are clouds hanging over Ibrox amid ongoing issues on and off the park.
The best way to raise spirits, of course, is to win games. Having the opportunity to do just that once again means the world to Danilo. His drive and his determination are clear.
“They have seen that I will always try to bring everything I can on the field and I want to help the team as much as possible with the goals,” Danilo says as he looks ahead to the start of the season next month. “Last year was not my year. I had some good numbers and some goals and assists but I think now I know everybody in the building and there are fresh players. I will do my best to score as many goals as possible and hopefully not have the bad luck with the injuries. I want to help the boys as much as possible and contribute to be part of this squad. It is important that we stick together and work hard as much as we can and bring as many victories as well. That is my message to the Rangers fans. I will do more than 120 per cent of myself. I want to score as many goals as possible and I will do my best to make that happen.”
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The relationship between Danilo and the Rangers supporter has been strengthened during his time out of action. Absence has made the heart grow fonder for both parties.
The Brazilian was serenaded to the chorus of ‘She’s Electric’ last season and the Oasis hit will make a welcome return to the stands as Danilo returns to the pitch. He smiles when asked about what the fans mean to him and have done for him.
“Aye, it is class,” he laughs as he answers with a smile and a hint of a Glaswegian twang. “I would say it is class. I am really thankful, to be honest for all the support. In the difficult moments that happened, they showed so much love and showed much care. I want to give it back because they deserve it for how much trust and love they give to me. I want to carry on with this love and that is what I keep in my heart. When I go up to them, it is like ‘You guys deserve my best effort and everything I can bring to the field’. I would love them to keep the support and I know that things will be alright.”
Danilo smiles once again. It will not be the last time it is seen this season. The focus is now on the future.
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