Leonardo Bonucci could easily have been in the home dressing room at Old Trafford as he prepares for Tuesday’s momentous Champions League tie. Manchester United wanted him, as, by the way, did Manchester City a couple of years ago.

But when it came to leaving AC Milan at the end of last season there was only one place he wanted to go. He wanted to go “home”.

So Bonucci will line up for Juventus and, at Continassa, the Italian club’s stunning new training ground close to the Allianz Stadium, he tells Telegraph Sport about that remarkable return, and his equally astonishing departure the year before, about the art of defending and about the burning desire to win the Champions League.

The 31-year-old comes across as extremely thoughtful and attentive and as he talks there is an eye-catching tattoo on the inside of his right forearm. Written in English it reads: “Dear God, I wanna take a minute not to ask for anything from you but to simply say thank you for all I have”.

“I had that tattoo after the birth of my children,” Bonucci explains. “Basically when you get married you start searching for stability and that stability was given by my wife (Martina) and by my kids (Matteo and Lorenzo) so I felt really satisfied and rewarded. Apart from realising my dream as a football player I had also obtained what I wanted in life.”