Dani García (footballer, born 1974)

Daniel 'Dani' García Lara (born 22 December 1974) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.
During his professional career he played for five different teams in his country, also having short spells in Greece and Turkey. Having represented both Real Madrid and Barcelona, he amassed La Liga totals of 208 games and 40 goals over the course of 12 seasons.

Club career

Born in Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Dani was a graduate of Real Madrid's youth system. He received his first-team debut on 5 February 1994, in a 2–0 home win over Deportivo de La Coruña; he played another match in the 1994–95 campaign, while still registered with the B-side.

Dani then spent two years on loan at Real Zaragoza, featuring prominently but without scoring success after which he returned to the Santiago Bernabéu. After a season with only eight appearances he was sold to fellow La Liga club RCD Mallorca, being the Balearic Islands team's top scorer in 1998–99 as it achieved a first-ever qualification to the UEFA Champions League; he also helped the team reach the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final, where he scored to tie the game at 1–1, in an eventual 1–2 loss to S.S. Lazio.

Subsequently, Dani signed for FC Barcelona: in the his first year he managed to net 11 La Liga goals (third-best in the squad) without being an undisputed starter, but subsequent loss of form and injuries limited him to nine league games between 2001 and 2003; on 18 April 2000 he scored a crucial goal at the Camp Nou, to help the club to the Champions League semifinals: trailing 3–4 on aggregate to Chelsea, he found the net with seven minutes left to send the tie to extra time, where his team scored a further two to progress.

After spending the first months of the 2003–04 season unregistered and training on his own, Dani returned to Zaragoza in January 2004, helping the Aragonese escape the relegation zone and win the 2004 edition of the Copa del Rey, netting against former team Real Madrid in an extra time success in Barcelona. During his second stint with the club, he played with David Villa.

After one season with RCD Espanyol Dani switched to Greece's Olympiacos FC, where he teamed up with former Barça teammate Rivaldo and then Turkish side Denizlispor. In July 2007 he returned to Madrid to settle with his family, and played for a few months with amateurs CF Rayo Majadahonda in Tercera División; he retired from football after a handful of games then returned to Real Madrid, joining its Indoor soccer team.

International career

Dani made his Spain national football team debut against Italy in an 18 November 1998 friendly match in Salerno (2–2), and represented the country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Previously, he helped the under-17s win the UEFA European Championship (then under-16) in 1991, and finish runner-up at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the same year.

International goals

Honours

Club

Real Madrid

• UEFA Champions League: 1997–98
• La Liga: 1994–95
• Supercopa de España: 1993, 1997

Mallorca

• Supercopa de España: 1998
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1998–99

Barcelona

• Supercopa de España: Runner-up 1999

Zaragoza

• Copa del Rey: 2003–04

Olympiacos

• Superleague Greece: 2005-06
• Greek Football Cup: 2005-06

Country

Spain U16

• UEFA European Under-16 Championship: 1991

Spain U17

• FIFA U-17 World Cup: Runner-up 1991