Dani (footballer, born 1951)

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

"Daniel Ruiz" redirects here. For other people, see Daniel Ruiz (disambiguation).
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ruiz-Bazán and the second or maternal family name is Justa.

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 7 in)
Position(s) 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)
International career
1977 Spain U21 1 (3)
1976 Spain amateur 1 (1)
1981 Spain B 2 (1)
1977–1981 Spain 25 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

During his career, he played almost exclusively for Athletic Bilbao, scoring 199 competitive goals in more than one decade with the first team.[1]

Club career

Born in Sopuerta, Biscay, Dani played youth football with various clubs in the Basque Country. He signed for Athletic Bilbao in 1971 at the age of 20, spending one season with the reserve side in the Tercera División.[2]

After two years on loan at neighbouring Barakaldo CF of Segunda División,[3] Dani returned to his alma mater, scoring in double digits in nine of the following ten years.[4] His first La Liga match occurred on 29 September 1974 in a 3–0 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,[5] also finishing third in the league, he totalled 29 goals in 46 official games; in the latter competition, over a 12-year stint at the San Mamés Stadium, he reached the 20-goal mark twice.[4]

Dani helped Athletic to back-to-back titles in his later years (1983–84),[3] 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 from 302 appearances.[4]

Dani's total of 11 goals in European competition stood as a club record for 25 years, until passed by Fernando Llorente in 2012.[6] He was a penalty kick specialist.[7]

International career

Dani earned 25 caps for Spain in four years, scoring ten goals. His debut came on 21 September 1977 in a 2–1 friendly win in Switzerland.[8]

Dani represented his country at both the 1978 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1980, respectively scoring against Austria and England (2–1 defeats and group-stage exit in both cases).[9][10]

International goals
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dani goal.[11][8]
List of international goals scored by Dani
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
125 January 1978Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain Italy2–02–1Friendly
229 March 1978El Molinón, Gijón, Spain Norway3–03–0Friendly
326 April 1978Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain Mexico2–02–0Friendly
43 June 1978José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina Austria1–11–21978 FIFA World Cup
54 April 1979Stadionul Central, Craiova, Romania Romania1–12–2Euro 1980 qualifying
62–2
726 September 1979Balaídos, Vigo, Spain Portugal1–01–1Friendly
823 January 1980Balaídos, Vigo, Spain Netherlands1–01–0Friendly
918 June 1980San Paolo, Naples, Italy England1–11–2UEFA Euro 1980
1012 November 1980Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain Poland1–11–2Friendly

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

References
  1. Ortiz de Lazcano, Javier (9 October 2015). "Los discípulos de Pichichi" [Pichichi's disciples]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  2. Domínguez, B. (23 May 1975). "Los cachorros son casi leones" [The pups are almost lions] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  3. Agiriano, Jon; González San Martín, Miguel (20 February 2011). "«La esencia del fútbol está dentro del área»" ["The essence of football is in the box"]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  4. "Carlos y Dani son los maestros" [Carlos and Dani are the masters]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 19 January 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  5. Rovira, Ramón (26 June 1977). "2–2: Los andaluces remontaron dos ventajas vascas" [2–2: The Andalusians countered Basques' advantage twice]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  6. Espinosa, Yolanda (16 March 2012). "Llorente supera a Dani como máximo goleador del Athletic en Europa" [Llorente overtakes Dani as Athletic's top scorer in Europe] (in Spanish). Vavel. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  7. "Leyendas del Athletic Club de Bilbao – 'Dani'" [Athletic Club de Bilbao legends – 'Dani']. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  8. Pla Díaz, Emilio. "Daniel Ruiz Bazán, 'Dani' – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  9. De la Riva, Mario (15 June 2018). "Los debuts de España: de las derrotas ante Suiza y Holanda a la goleada a Ucrania" [Spain's debuts: from defeats against Switzerland and the Netherlands to rout of Ukraine]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  10. "Italia 80-Inglaterra 96: De los milagros de Holanda y Dinamarca al triplete alemán" [Italy 80-England 96: From the Netherlands and Denmark's miracles to the German treble]. Estadio Deportivo (in Spanish). 10 June 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  11. "Dani". European Football. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  12. Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente. "Spain 1982/83". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  13. Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente. "Spain 1983/84". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  14. "Copa del Rey 1983–84" (in Spanish). Lingua Sport. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  15. Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente; Torre, Raúl; Lozano Ferrer, Carles. "Spain – List of Super Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  16. "Athletic 2–1 Juventus". UEFA. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
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