Daniel Martín Alexandre (born 16 September 1981), known as Dani, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
His career was closely associated to Betis, for which he appeared in 115 competitive games (26 goals) and scored the winning goal in the 2005 Copa del Rey final."Todos me llaman farsante" ("Everybody calls me a poser"); El País, 17 December 2005 (in Spanish)
Club career Born in Seville, Dani started playing professionally with his hometown club Real Betis, and started out with their reserves, a spell that included six goals in 27 games in 1999–2000 in the Segunda División B. 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 appearances and five goals.Dani: "Mis goles aquí nunca son suficientes" (Dani: "My goals here are never enough"); Diario AS, 7 August 2005 (in Spanish)
After having missed most of the 2002–03 campaign due to a serious knee injury, occurred in April 2002Injury blow for Dani; UEFA, 16 April 2002El tinerfeñista Alexis califica de «fortuita» la lesión de Dani (Tenerife's Alexis deems Dani injury "fortuitous") ; ABC, 17 April 2002 (in Spanish) and relapsed in August,Dani out for six months; UEFA, 19 August 2002 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 earlier.Molina araña un punto y mantiene al Depor líder (Molina scrapes a point and keeps Depor in first); El Mundo, 22 November 2003 (in Spanish) However, he continued to grab important goals for the Andalusia side with relatively little playing time, most notably the extra time winner in the 2005 final of the Copa del Rey against CA Osasuna,Dani delivers for Betis; UEFA, 11 June 2005 adding the only goal in the 1–0 home victory over Chelsea in the group stage of UEFA Champions League.Betis buoyed by Dani strike; UEFA, 1 November 2005 On 20 August 2005, his brace at the Camp Nou helped to defeat FC Barcelona 2–1 in the Supercopa de España, but the Catalans had already won the first leg 3–0.El Barça no deja escapar la Supercopa (Barça do not let Supercup get away); El Mundo, 20 August 2005 (in Spanish)
Dani scored against Real Madrid on 18 January 2007, 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.Betis deliver Madrid knockout blow; UEFA, 18 January 2007 However, he finished the league with only 14 appearances, not being able to find the net.
Under contract until 2010, Dani joined Segunda División club Cádiz CF, also in the region, on a one-year deal including the possibility of definitive purchase at the end of the term.Dani, nuevo jugador del Cádiz CF (Dani, new Cádiz player) ; Cádiz CF, 1 August 2007 (in Spanish)Dani se marcha cedido al Cádiz (Dani goes on loan to Cádiz) ; Real Betis, 1 August 2007 (in Spanish) In spite of his ten goals, the team could not avoid relegation.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)
Dani stayed in that tier for the following season, being again loaned, this time to Alicante-based Elche CF.Dani llega al Elche cedido por el Betis (Dani arrives at Elche loaned by Betis); Marca, 14 August 2008 (in Spanish) His stint was marred by injuries and dramatic loss of form,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) as he only managed to score once in official games.El Elche gana y gusta (2–0) (Elche win and please (2–0)); La Verdad, 4 September 2008 (in Spanish)
Returning to Betis in July,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) 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, later that month, signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with second-division Recreativo de Huelva.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)
On 6 February 2011, Dani scored the game's only goal as Recreativo defeated Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.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) He retired in 2013 at the age of 32, after spells in his country's third division and Greece.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); Huelva 24, 24 December 2012 (in Spanish)
International career Dani earned his only cap for Spain at under-21 level on 26 March 2002, featuring 60 minutes of a 3–0 friendly win in the Netherlands.Los jóvenes dan una lección en Holanda (Youths teach a lesson in the Netherlands); El Mundo, 26 March 2002 (in Spanish)
Honours Betis Copa del Rey: 2004–05
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