I found it hard to have a good relationship with Pep Guardiola - now I can add to Man City misery

When Manchester City make the trip to Turin to take on Juventus, there is a chance they could line up against a familiar face.

Juventus' club captain is Brazil international defender Danilo who, of course, spent two seasons at City between 2017 and 2019.

The 33-year-old moved to the Allianz Stadium, with Joao Cancelo moving in the opposite direction, and he has established himself as an important player for the Old Lady, playing as either a full-back or a centre-half.

Danilo has helped Juve win four major trophies during his five-and-a-half years at the club but his career never quite took off at the Etihad Stadium.

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Having joined the club from Real Madrid in 2017, the same summer Kyle Walker joined from Tottenham Hotspur, he had to settle for largely playing second fiddle to the England international right-back, while Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabian Delph and Benjamin Mendy were preferred at left-back.

While his two seasons in Manchester ended with five trophies, Danilo couldn't establish himself as a regular and Cancelo's arrival proved to be an instant upgrade.

Danilo struggled to have a positive relationship with Pep Guardiola, and two years after he left the club he spoke about those difficulties in a bizarre interview as he outlined how passionate Guardiola was about the game.

"It's true it's not easy to have a good relationship with him (Guardiola)," Danilo admitted in an interview with Italian outlet Repubblica back in 2021.

"He is never relaxed, he thinks about football all the time. I think at home, in the evening, he puts his wife on the couch as if she were a player on the pitch."

Danilo now has a chance to compound his former manager's misery as City make the trip to Italy in the midst of a dreadful run of form and a huge injury crisis.

City's players are running on fumes and they have only managed to scrape one win from their last nine matches in all competitions.

They head to Turin in 17th place in the expanded Champions League table and Juventus know a win will lift them ahead of Guardiola's side with just two games remaining.

Should City suffer defeat they will not only see their chances of a top eight finish (which eliminates a further two-legged knockout tie from their already stacked schedule) diminish but it will also mean they would be clinging on for a top 24 finish and qualification altogether.

With a trip to PSG in January next up for City, they could really do with a positive result to avoid any jitters heading to Paris. That should be motivation enough for Danilo as he looks to get one over his former manager and former club.