Dani (footballer, born 1951)

Dani
Dani in 1978
Personal information
Full name Daniel Ruiz-Bazán Justa
Date of birth (1951-06-28) 28 June 1951
Place of birth Sopuerta, Spain
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Youth career
1968–1969 Sodupe
1969–1970 Getxo
1970–1971 Villosa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1971–1972 Bilbao Athletic 33 (8)
1972–1986 Athletic Bilbao 302 (147)
1972–1974 → Barakaldo (loan) 65 (9)
Total 400 (164)
National team
1977 Spain U21 1 (3)
1976 Spain amateur 1 (1)
1981 Spain B 2 (1)
1977–1981 Spain 25 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Daniel Ruiz-Bazán Justa (born 28 June 1951), commonly known as Dani, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.

During his career he played almost exclusively for Athletic Bilbao, scoring nearly 200 official goals (exactly 199) in more than one decade with the first team.[1][2] He was a penalty kick specialist.[3]

Club career

Born in Sopuerta, Biscay, Dani played his youth football in various clubs in the Basque Country, arriving in Athletic Bilbao in 1971 at the age of 20 and playing one full season with the reserve side in the third division.

After two years loaned at neighbouring Barakaldo CF in the second level, he returned to his alma mater, scoring in double digits for nine of the following ten years. Dani's first La Liga match occurred on 29 September 1974 in a 0–3 away loss against Valencia CF and, in the 1976–77 season, as the Lions reached the final of the UEFA Cup and the Copa del Rey,[4] also finishing third in the league, he netted a total of 29 goals in 46 official games; in the latter competition, during his 12-year stint with the club, he reached the 20-goal mark twice.

Dani helped Athletic to back-to-back league titles in his later years (1983–84), although he was only a fringe player in the latter campaign – ten matches, three goals – due to the emergence of another youth product of the club, Manuel Sarabia. He would be further pushed down the pecking order after the first-team promotion of Julio Salinas, and eventually retired in June 1986 at the age of 35, having scored 147 league goals in 302 appearances.

Dani's total of 11 goals in European competition stood as a club record for 25 years, until passed by Fernando Llorente in 2012.[5]

International career

Dani played 25 matches and scored ten goals for Spain, during four years and two days. His debut came on 21 September 1977, in a 2–1 friendly win in Switzerland.[6]

Dani represented his country in both the 1978 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1980, respectively scoring against Austria and England (1–2 defeats and group stage exit in both cases).

International goals

[6]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.25 January 1978Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain Italy2–02–1Friendly
2.29 March 1978El Molinón, Gijón, Spain Norway3–03–0Friendly
3.26 April 1978Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain Mexico2–02–0Friendly
4.3 June 1978José Almafitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina Austria1–12–11978 FIFA World Cup
5.4 April 1979Stadionul Central, Craiova, Romania Romania1–12–2Euro 1980 qualifying
6.4 April 1979Stadionul Central, Craiova, Romania Romania2–22–2Euro 1980 qualifying
7.26 September 1979Balaídos, Vigo, Spain Portugal1–01–1Friendly
8.23 January 1980Balaídos, Vigo, Spain Netherlands1–01–0Friendly
9.18 June 1980San Paolo, Naples, Italy England1–11–2UEFA Euro 1980
10.12 November 1980Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain Poland1–11–2Friendly

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

References

  1. ↑ "Los cachorros son casi leones" [The pups are almost lions] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 23 May 1975. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "Los discípulos de Pichichi" [Pichichi's disciples]. El Correo (in Spanish). 9 October 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Leyendas del Athletic Club de Bilbao – 'Dani'" [Athletic Club de Bilbao legends – 'Dani']. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "2–2: Los andaluces remontaron dos ventajas vascas" [2–2: The Andalusians countered Basques' advantage twice]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 26 June 1977. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Llorente supera a Dani como máximo goleador del Athletic en Europa" [Llorente overtakes Dani as Athletic's top scorer in Europe] (in Spanish). Vavel. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Daniel Ruiz Bazán, 'Dani' – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Spain 1982/83". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Spain 1983/84". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Copa del Rey 1983–84". Lingua Sport. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Spain – List of Super Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Athletic 2–1 Juventus". UEFA. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.