Dani (footballer, born 1981)

Daniel Martín Alexandre (born 16 September 1981), commonly known as Dani, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Martín and the second or maternal family name is Alexandre.

Dani
Dani in 2009
Personal information
Full name Daniel Martín Alexandre
Date of birth (1981-09-16) 16 September 1981
Place of birth Seville, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position(s) Striker
Youth career
1998–1999 Betis
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Betis B 79 (23)
2001–2010 Betis 94 (19)
2007–2008 → Cádiz (loan) 35 (10)
2008–2009 → Elche (loan) 14 (0)
2010–2011 Recreativo 39 (4)
2011–2012 Atlético Baleares 29 (4)
2012–2013 Pierikos 25 (8)
Total 315 (68)
National team
1999 Spain U18 3 (3)
2001 Spain U20 1 (0)
2002 Spain U21 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His career was closely associated to Betis, for which he appeared in 115 competitive games (26 goals) and won one Copa del Rey.[1]

Club career

Born in Seville, Dani started playing professionally with hometown's Real Betis, and appeared for its B-side during three years, a spell which included six goals in 27 games in 1999–2000. On 4 November 2001 he made his first-team – and La Liga – debut, playing the second half of a 0–1 home loss against Real Zaragoza and finishing the season with 17 games and five goals.

After having missed most of the 2002–03 campaign due to a serious knee injury, occurred in April 2002[2][3] and relapsed in August,[4] Dani was knocked unconscious during a league game against Deportivo de La Coruña in November 2003, and was unable to remember a disallowed goal he had scored during the game.[5] However, he continue to grab important goals for the Andalusians with relatively little playing time, most notably the extra time winner in the 2005 final of the Copa del Rey against CA Osasuna,[6] adding the game's only in a 1–0 home win against Chelsea in the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League group stage;[7] on 20 August 2005, he also netted a brace at the Camp Nou to help defeat FC Barcelona 2–1 in the Supercopa de España, but the Catalans had already won the first leg 3–0.[8]

On 18 January 2007, Dani netted against Real Madrid, eliminating the eventual league champions from domestic cup contention. His equalising goal gave Betis a 1–1 draw, putting them through to the quarter-finals on the away goals rule,[9] and he finished the league with only 14 appearances, not being able to find the net.

Under Betis contract until 2010, Dani would however join Segunda División club Cádiz CF, also in the region,[10][11] in a one-year loan deal including the possibility of definitive purchase at the end of the term. With his ten goals the team could not, however, avoid relegation.[12]

Dani stayed in the division for the following season, being again loaned, this time to Alicante side Elche CF, also in the second tier.[13] His stint was marred by injuries and dramatic loss of form,[14] as he only managed to score once in official games[15] and only appeared in one third of the matches.

Returning to Betis in July,[16] Dani immediately underwent a knee operation, only being made available in January 2010. However, he was one of the club's last attacking options and, late in the month, signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with division two's Recreativo de Huelva.[17]

On 6 February 2011, Dani scored the game's only goal as Recreativo defeated Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.[18] He retired in 2013 at the age of 32, after spells in his country's Segunda División B and Greece.[19]

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gollark: What, in *number* or *pay* or what?

References
  1. "Todos me llaman farsante" ("Everybody calls me a poser"); El País, 17 December 2005 (in Spanish)
  2. Injury blow for Dani; UEFA, 16 April 2002
  3. El tinerfeñista Alexis califica de «fortuita» la lesión de Dani (Tenerife's Alexis deems Dani injury «fortuitous»); ABC, 17 April 2002 (in Spanish)
  4. Dani out for six months; UEFA, 19 August 2002
  5. Molina araña un punto y mantiene al Depor líder (Molina scrapes a point and keeps Depor leader); El Mundo, 22 November 2003 (in Spanish)
  6. Dani delivers for Betis; UEFA, 12 June 2005
  7. Betis buoyed by Dani strike; UEFA, 1 November 2005
  8. El Barça no deja escapar la Supercopa (Barça do not let Supercup get away); El Mundo, 21 August 2005 (in Spanish)
  9. Betis deliver Madrid knockout blow; UEFA, 18 January 2007
  10. Dani, nuevo jugador del Cádiz CF (Dani, new Cádiz player) Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine; Cádiz CF, 1 August 2007 (in Spanish)
  11. Dani se marcha cedido al Cádiz (Dani goes on loan to Cádiz) Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine; Real Betis, 1 August 2007 (in Spanish)
  12. Dani: «Tengo dos espinas clavadas en mi carrera: las lesiones y el descenso del Cádiz CF» (Dani: «I have two thorns in my side in my career: injuries and Cádiz CF's relegation»); La Voz Digital, 23 June 2016 (in Spanish)
  13. Dani llega al Elche cedido por el Betis (Dani arrives at Elche loaned by Betis); Marca, 14 August 2008 (in Spanish)
  14. Dani Martín se lesiona y estará tres semanas de baja por una rotura fibrilar (Dani Martín suffers injury and will miss three months with fiber rupture); La Verdad, 5 March 2009 (in Spanish)
  15. El Elche gana y gusta (2–0) (Elche win and please (2–0)); La Verdad, 4 September 2008 (in Spanish)
  16. Dani, lesionado, abandona el Elche y regresa al Betis (Dani, injured, leaves Elche and returns to Betis); Al Final de la Palmera, 30 May 2009 (in Spanish)
  17. Dani obtiene la carta de libertad y se marcha al Recre (Dani gets free transfer and goes to Recre); El Desmarque, 27 January 2010 (in Spanish)
  18. El Betis se deja el liderato ante un Recre con mucho oficio y escaso fútbol (Betis leave first place against Recre with much "know-how" and little football); Marca, 6 February 2011 (in Spanish)
  19. Dani, del gol a Osasuna al Pierikos pasando por el Recre y las continuas lesiones (Dani, from goal to Osasuna to Pierikos to Recre and recurrent injuries); Huelva24, 24 December 2012 (in Spanish)
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