As Rangers manager Philippe Clement alluded to, it might not have been the ‘perfect’ display by his side on Saturday as they put six past a bedraggled Ross County outfit, but after a slow start, it wasn’t all that far off.
Clement may not have quite been able to have his cake and eat it too by seeing his side cap off the Hampden demolition by scoring the ’10 or 11 goals’ he thought they should have, but surely the cherry on top of the icing was the goal for Danilo towards the end.
It may not have been a significant goal in the context of the game, but for the striker, it was massive. He admits it was an emotional moment, as the long, hard months of rehab from the knee injury he sustained last December finally melted away.
It was the first time he had found the net since scoring against Sparta Prague a month before that fateful afternoon at Tynecastle, and it was difficult to overstate just how much the moment meant to him, as he pounced on some typically dismal defending from County to roll the ball home under Ross Laidlaw.
"It was great," Danilo said.
"I don’t have the words. I have got so much emotion about that. Hopefully many more to come. I don’t have words to describe how special it was.
“All the rehab, all the process…I thank all the staff and the physios for all the hard work they have been doing with me and the time to prepare myself for this moment.
“I have prepared myself in my head - ‘Are you ready? Are you ready?’ From that moment I had in my head that every minute I would show that I am back fit.
“It has been a really long rehab, really difficult for me in some periods. When you look back, it was worth the wait and [Saturday] was the best time to have the chance of scoring.
“The last game [against St Johnstone in the League Cup] I had some opportunities. I trained really hard all week to prepare myself for every minute, every chance I get, to score.”
Danilo does of course face quite the fight to get into the Rangers side ahead of red-hot teammate Cyriel Dessers, who continued his fine start to the season by scoring a double against County and pipping Rabbi Matondo, who also bagged a brace, to the man-of-the-match award.
According to the Brazilian though, the friendly rivalry between the pair is a factor in pushing both himself and Dessers to perform at a higher level, knowing that either is more than capable of leading the line for Clement’s side.
And from the collective view of the team, there is no doubt that the return of Danilo is more than welcome, with the sharing of the goalscoring burden bound to benefit Dessers, who was rather excessively flogged last season due to a dearth of alternative options.
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“I think for what he was showing already last season shows his quality,” Danilo said.
“He has been doing great, also in training, so I am really grateful for him for what he showed me right now. He is a good striker. He knows his position and where to have his moments to score a goal.
“I think right now he is showing his quality, and I am really happy for him. You always try to push for better and it is the same for me as well. He is always helping me perform.
“I need to work hard for myself to get the opportunity. I think it is great when you have those moments and those opportunities for two strikers to work together. We are always working hard.”
That hard work behind the scenes has Danilo well placed, he feels, to come back into the squad as an even better player than the one who arrived in Glasgow from Feyenoord last summer.
“There is a lot of work, I am still on the way to become the best version of myself,” he said.
“I am working really hard every day, working two sessions every day to prepare myself physically and mentally.
“Right now, when I have my minutes, I want to be happy and enjoy those moments that I missed for a long period. I don’t put too much pressure on me to be the best version of myself. I work every day to be the best version.
“It will come. I will be patient. In the right time it will be there.”
There would be no better time to really announce his return than at Celtic Park next week, and Danilo feels that he can make a telling contribution if given the chance.
"Honestly, I feel ready every day," he said.
"We are right now looking forward already for the next one and we will prepare ourselves in training, have a good week, and prepare everybody."
