Danilo has broken ranks with many of Cristiano Ronaldo's former Juventus teammates to hail the superstar attacker.
Ronaldo spent three years at Allianz Stadium after a £100million move from Real Madrid, winning two Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia. But while he enjoyed much personal success, twice being crowned Serie A Footballer of the Year, Juve's fortunes went downhill.
He worked under three managers, with Juve finishing fourth in his final season in the Italian top-flight. And since he left the club in the summer of 2021, many of his former teammates have pinpointed his presence as one of the main reasons for Juve's downturn.
Danilo though has backed the 37-year-old, who is currently a free agent after an acrimonious exit from Manchester United. The Brazilian right-back insisted Ronaldo is "outstanding" as he prepares to face Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals.
“I can't even comment on that. [ Cristiano Ronaldo ] is an outstanding player, an incredible human being and will know how to turn around any situation," Danilo told Portuguese newspaper A Bola.
"It is a team with extremely strong players, Modric, Brozovic, Perisic or Kovacic. I know them very well and they are used to big games. It will certainly be very difficult and we need to prepare well to face them. We will need to be at our best to be able to beat them.”
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Danilo's comments are a departure from the sentiments of most his team-mates, who have taken aim at Ronaldo. Defender Leonardo Bonucci admitted his belief that Ronaldo's ability resulted in the rest of the team growing lazy.
"This was the thing. The idea that one player, even the best in the world, could guarantee Juventus victory. Cristiano's presence had a big influence on us. Just training with him gave us something extra but subconsciously players started to think his presence alone was enough to win games," he said.
"We began to fall a little short in our daily work, the humility, the sacrifice, the desire to be there for your teammate day after day. Over the last few years, I think you could see that. Maybe it was taken for granted that if we gave the ball to Cristiano he'd win us the game.
"But Cristiano needed the team as much as we needed him. There had to be a trade-off because it's the team that lifts the individual even if the individual is the best player on the planet."
Bonucci was backed up by his former partner in Juventus' defence, Giorgio Chielllini. The Euro 2020 winner slammed the 37-year-old for leaving Juve at the last second in the 2021 summer transfer window.
"Ronaldo left on August 28 and it certainly would’ve been better if he had gone earlier so we could prepare. Unfortunately, we paid a price for that," Chiellini said.
"It does create a shock to the system and we lost points in the opening games because of that. If he’d left on August 1, then we would’ve had time to reorganise and be ready for the start of the season."
