Such partings are never easy. But - the time has come.
Petersburg became akin to this Portuguese guy. Generally demanding, and even Baltic prickly in matters of kinship, the city has long considered it its own. If Peter accepts someone, then with all his heart - he knows how it happens.
Danny is a favorite of Zenit fans. / Photo: © Instagram
Although it was probably impossible not to accept. Because he always devoted himself entirely to football, because he did not work and did not play on the green rectangle - he lived there. All the hottest things that happened on the lawn of "Petrovsky", the most dashing, the most non-standard, the most delicious usually had its root cause - Miguel Danny. He showed through between the defenders, fooled them with a dexterous trick, opened the game with a subtle pass - he acted as an artist and a motor in one person.
Locomotive - Zenit. 0: 2. Danny
Whoever was Zenit's coach during these years - Advocate, Spalletti, Villas-Boas, Lucescu - everyone needed him. Everyone waited impatiently if he suddenly happened to stay on sick leave. Because Danny is something like an elixir for the team: when it's bad, he will definitely breathe life.
So could the people of St. Petersburg remain indifferent to the one who, even after the third breaking of the crosses, returned to the field and again fearlessly went into battle?
Although, to be honest, he often made the tribune annoy the audience: he did not score from positions where it seemed impossible to miss.
In two months he will turn 34: perhaps we can summarize. In this regard, the question is head-on: did he become what he promised at the moment when Zenit gave 30 million for him?
The answers will probably be different. And this means that he lacked something for unanimous recognition. What exactly?
Perhaps natural health. Still, he suffered three injuries to the same knee, received without serious collisions (the first two times, the injury happened at all in training). And each of the three took, together with the full restoration of playing condition, about a year.
Danny with his sons Bernard and Francisco / Photo: Elena Razina
Perhaps he lacked technical equipment. In relation to Danny, this version may seem crazy, but in fact it is. If he possessed the technique of hitting to the same extent as, for example, the technique of high-speed dribbling, he would have much more chances of becoming a world star. And so the number of moments ruined at the goal of others in his career is quite comparable to the number of goals scored.
And such a contradictory nature turned out to be, if you look more broadly, not only his personal property. A man whose Zenith life began with a record 30-million transfer, and ended with peremptory captaincy, is doomed to special influence, to be significant, to the exclusive right to answer for everything.
On the banks of the Neva, Miguel appeared in August 2008, and now it is June 2017: it is finishing its ninth year. And the championships of Russia with Danny as part of "Zenith" completed nine. Three of them turned out to be gold. Three out of nine. Is this normal for the most powerful club in the nation?
Of course, there were other instigators in the team at this time. Denisov, Shirokov, Hulk, Dziuba. But the periods of their premiership turned out to be short-term, while Danny was the only one who remained in the leadership all this time. And throughout that era when Zenit began to be called a top club, it personifies more fully than any of its teammates.
Do you have the feeling that Zenit too often missed the mark during these years? Yes, he was bright, yes, he excited, amused, but at the same time he achieved his goals much less often than was assumed by the disposition.
Therefore, the current decision of the club may seem unexpected only at first glance. Alas, at 34, footballers don't get better. And I want to grow. I want success, recognition, titles.
Although the main pearl in the club's trophy showcase will probably remain the UEFA Super Cup for a long time to come. And no one will forget whose blow brought him to Zenit.
Foreign stars often find it difficult to adapt to the Russian championship, where there is a lot of power struggle, difficult fields and a difficult climate. However, Portuguese footballer Miguel Danni was a happy exception. For more than ten years now, he has been playing for clubs from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in all of them he becomes a fan favorite and a team leader.
Technical and tactical characteristics
Danny's position on the pitch is often defined by the full-width attacking midfielder. He is capable of supporting attacks from both the right and left flanks, and can also carry out a huge amount of work in the central zone.
In fact, Miguel Danny is a classic football top ten. Possessing filigree technique and excellent speed, the Portuguese is able to successfully connect to attacks from the depth of field, jumping out from behind the backs of the defenders and single-handedly deciding the fate of the moment with a powerful blow.
At Zenit, he most often works in this way, without burdening himself with rough work. However, the range of possibilities of Miguel Danny is quite wide.
He has a highly developed football intelligence, is able to distribute sharpening passes from any position. These dispatching abilities are used in the Portuguese national team, where Miguel Danni is forced to withstand fierce competition for a place in the composition. In the national team, he plays much deeper than in Zenit, playing the role of point guard central midfielder.
The beginning of the way
Miguel Danni was born far from his historical homeland in 1983. His father left Portugal for Venezuela, where he opened his own restaurant. However, already at the age of seven, Danny returned to Madeira, where his grandmother took him in. The boy started playing football at the Maritimu school, where he developed as a serious player.
He made his first team debut at the age of seventeen, playing twenty matches in the 2001/2002 season and scoring five goals. The talented attacking player did not go unnoticed by the coaches of the Portuguese youth teams. In five years, Miguel Danni went through all the stages from youth to youth team Portugal.
Already in 2002 for young footballer two leading clubs of the country began to fight at once. The player himself was rooting for Porto and wanted to join the Dragons, but the club's management did not agree on the amount of compensation for the promising midfielder, and he ended up in another grandeur of Portuguese football - Sporting.
Miguel Danni could not immediately gain a foothold in the new team, and it was decided to give him on loan to his native Maritima. There, by the way, he was able to train under the guidance of Anatoly Byshovets for one and a half seasons.
Premier League star
In 2005, Dynamo Moscow acquired a whole group of star players in Portugal. Most of them came from Porto, which won the Champions League last season. In the company of Manis, Koshtigny, Derlei, the modest footballer of the Portugal youth national team, Miguel Danni, was completely invisible. However, at the end of the season, it turned out that the established footballers were cool about moving to Russia and did not show half of their playing potential.
Almost the entire Portuguese colony left Dynamo without much regret from the fans and the players themselves. However, Miguel Danni decided to prove his capabilities and looked just brilliant. He has conscientiously practiced in midfield, scoring goals and handing out assists, becoming one of the best players Russian Premier League.
All this led to the fact that in 2008 the richest club in the country, Zenit, without much hesitation, laid out a huge 30 million euros for the leader of Dynamo. Already in his first match for new club Miguel Danni scored a goal against Manchester United in the European Super Cup.
Attacking players with high speed are often the victims of injury. Miguel Danni did not escape this fate. In 2009, he suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament in his knee. There is no worse injury in football, because after it it takes almost a year to recover. In the future, Miguel was twice overtaken by a relapse of the old injury, last time most recently - in 2016.
Despite the old sores and considerable age, the Portuguese is still a key player of Zenit and is still necessary for the team.
Personal life
The photo of Miguel Danni does not leave the covers of football publications; many fans are interested in his life. A talented football player is a happy father with many children. Miguel's wife Danny Petra gave him three children during the marriage. The older boys Bernardo and Francisco study at the Zenit Academy and even managed to become Russian citizens.
Emily's daughter was born quite recently - in 2017.
Miguel Danni is a midfielder for FC Zenit and the Portuguese national team. As part of FC "Zenith" plays at number 10.
Daniel Miguel Alves Gomes was born on August 7, 1983 in Caracas, Venezuela. He has been playing football since childhood. At the age of 15, he continued to play football in Portugal, where his family moved. Danny started his professional career in the youth team of the Maritimo Funchal club, and in 2000 he was transferred to the main team. Having shown excellent results in several the most important matches championship, Miguel was soon sold to FC Sporting (Lisbon) - a club that is one of the leaders of Portuguese football. However, Danny spent his first season on loan at Maritima. Miguel Danni was rightfully considered one of the most promising footballers Portugal. While playing in Portugal, Danny made over 40 appearances for various youth and youth teams.
In 2005, Miguel Danni moved to Russia and started playing for Dynamo Moscow. As part of the Moscow club, Danny made his debut on March 9, 2005 in the match against Krylia Sovetov, held as part of the Russian Cup. Following the results of the first season at Dynamo, Miguel Danni was recognized by the fans best player club in 2005. In total, the football player played 94 matches at Dynamo Moscow (79 of them in the Russian Championship and 15 in the Russian Cup), in which he scored 16 goals (12 of them in the Russian Championship and 4 in the Russian Cup). Miguel Danny's goal against FC Rostov was recognized by the visitors of the Sports.ru website as the best goal of the 2007 Russian Championship.
In August 2008, Miguel Danni signed a contract with football club Zenit, which paid $ 30,000,000 for the footballer. This transfer has become the most expensive in the history of the Russian Premier League. Danny scored his first goal in the form of blue-white-blue three days after signing the contract. It was the ball against Manchester United that brought Zenit the UEFA Super Cup win. At the end of the meeting, Miguel Danni was named the best player of the match.
Some football analysts express the opinion that Miguel Danny was acquired to replace Andrei Arshavin. Danny and Arshavin formed an excellent attacking bunch, but six months after the purchase of Danny Arshavin, they were sold to Arsenal, and the next season the Portuguese took the tenth game number that belonged to Andrey before.
During training on May 14, 2009, Miguel Danni suffered a severe injury to his right knee (anterior cruciate ligament rupture), which incapacitated the player for six months.
Re-entering the field in the first round of the Russian championship on March 13, 2010, Miguel Danni played the entire match and scored the only goal in the match, which was victorious for Zenit.
On June 14, 2011 Zenit extended the contract with Miguel Danny for another 4 years.
Miguel Danni has been called up to various Portuguese national teams on several occasions. Danny played for the youth team, winning the bronze medal at the 2004 European Championships. On the Olympic Games 2004 Miguel Danni played for the Portuguese national team. In 2007, Danny received a call to the Venezuela national team, but refused, hoping to wait for an invitation to the Portuguese national team. In 2008, Miguel Danni was included only in the extended list of candidates for the Portuguese national team to participate in the European Championship. Danny made his debut for the Portuguese national team on 20 August 2008 in a friendly against the Faroe Islands. Coming on as a substitute in the 55th minute, Miguel could not take advantage of an excellent chance and hit the post. On October 15, 2008, Danny entered the field for the first time in the starting lineup of the national team. The match against the Albanian national team ended with a score of 0: 0, although the Albanian national team was already in the first half in the minority, and many Portuguese, including Danny, could have scored a single goal. Danny was replaced by Nani in the second half. In the match against the Brazilians on November 19, 2008, Miguel managed to open the scoring in the 5th minute, but his team still lost with a score of 2: 6. On the eve of the World Cup in South Africa, the Portuguese national team met with the Mozambique national team, in which Danny scored a goal and also gave an assist. This goal became the jubilee 800th goal in the history of the Portuguese national team.
Miguel Danni is married. He has two sons. Twins Francisco and Bernard were born on April 14, 2004. At the moment, Danny's sons are studying at the Zenit Academy.
Miguel Danny's achievements
In 2008, Miguel Danni became the bronze medalist of the Russian Championship. As part of Zenit, he also earned the UEFA Super Cup and became the best player in the UEFA Super Cup match. In the list of 33 best players in the Russian championship in 2008, Miguel Danny took first place.
In 2009, Miguel Danni finished third at the Russian Championship. But already in the next year, 2010, Danny became the champion of Russia, and again took the first line in the list of 33 best players in the Russian championship. According to the results of 2010, the RFU named Danny the best foreign footballer in the Premier League, and the publications "Football" and "Sport-Express" gave Miguel the title of Footballer of the Year in Russia.
In 2011, Miguel Danni won the Russian Super Cup.
Miguel Danni, whose photo you can see in the article, is a Portuguese midfielder, one of the leaders of the Zenit club from St. Petersburg. Throughout his career, he has played for Portuguese and Russian clubs, as well as his country's youth, Olympic and national teams. As already mentioned, he plays as a midfielder, and also feels good in the place of a forward.
Childhood
The footballer's father was from the Portuguese city of Madeira. In 1979, he left his homeland with two of his friends and moved to the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, where he opened a restaurant and married a local woman. Miguel Danni was born here on August 7, 1983. As a child, the boy was very interested in cycling and football. Since he was too small for him, the parents decided to send their son to a local football school... He started to get it right very quickly, and soon the guy became the best player here. His talent was noticed by the scouts of the Maritimo team, who offered Miguel to transfer to a club school. To do this, you had to go to Portugal, to Madeira. Father and mother were categorically against such an idea, but the persuasion of the grandmother who lived there helped to convince them.
First football steps
Miguel Danni, whose biography as a professional footballer began in 1990 with the Maritimo club, moved to Portugal at the age of seven. Ten years later, his parents also moved there. The official debut of a football player as part of his team took place on October 1, 2001. Then, in the national championship match against Zhil Vicente, he came on as a substitute in the 62nd minute of the game. He scored his first goal two and a half months later against Salgeirusha. During his debut season in Portugal, the footballer took part in 20 matches. He scored five goals in them. Maritimu finished sixth in the final standings.
Sporting
At the age of eighteen, Miguel Danni became interested in the country's leading clubs, in particular, Porto and Sporting. Since the player himself was a big fan of the first of the mentioned teams, he gave preliminary consent to switch to it. However, the managers of "Maritimu" were not satisfied with the amount of the transfer. As a result, for the amount of 2.1 million euros, the player moved to the Lisbon club. Here he played for one year, but did not achieve tangible success. In this regard, in the next season, the athlete returned to his home team on loan. At that time, the coach of "Maritimu" was a domestic specialist Anatoly Byshovets. The coach once said these words about Danny: "Miguel is a very talented and hardworking footballer, so he will undoubtedly succeed." The player himself later repeatedly admitted that the Russian mentor taught him a lot.
"Dynamo"
In 2005, the athlete received an offer from Dynamo Moscow, as a result of which he moved to Russia. He played his first match on March 9. It was a cup meeting against the Samara Wings of the Soviets. At the end of his debut season as part of his club, he was named the best player. In total, the football player played 94 games in the Dynamo shirt, in which he scored 16 goals. It should be noted that in 2007 his ball against Rostov was voted the best in the Russian championship.
"Zenith"
In order to get a player like Miguel Danni, Zenit in August 2008 had to pay Dynamo an amount of 30 million euros. At that time, it was the most expensive internal transition in history. Russian football... For the St. Petersburg team, the athlete made his debut in a meeting against English club Manchester United in Russian team won then with a score of 2: 1, and Miguel himself scored the decisive goal and was recognized as the best player of the match. The following season, the footballer was awarded the tenth game number in the club.
In May 2009, Danny received severe injury in training, because of which he was unable to enter the football field for 10 months. His return took place in 2010. Then he helped his team defeat Rostov, scoring the only goal in the match. On June 14, 2011, the player extended against Zenit, and on September 29 he played the hundredth match as part of the St. Petersburg team. Notable was the fact that the rival Russian club in that match was the Portuguese "Porto", and the footballer himself distinguished himself by scoring a goal. In 2012, the player was seriously injured once again. This time, Miguel had to miss 8 competition months. Be that as it may, after returning to the field, he continued to demonstrate a bright and enchanting game. As a result, the footballer remains the leader of the St. Petersburg club to this day.
National team
In 2007, the player received an invitation to the Venezuelan national team, but declined it because he dreamed of playing for Portugal. Miguel Danni played his debut fight as part of the national team on August 20, 2008. Then he came on as a substitute against During the 2010 world championship in South Africa, he had three fights, including the 1/8 final match against Spain, in which the Portuguese lost 1-0. Despite an excellent season at the club, he was not invited by the head coach of the national team, Paulo Bento, to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, despite an excellent season at the club.
The footballer scored his first hat-trick in his career on August 3, 2012 in a meeting against Volga from Nizhny Novgorod in the framework of the Russian championship.
In November 2012, the player was chosen as the captain of Zenit.
After the end of the 2012/2013 season. Miguel Danni changed his playing number from 10 to 35. He explained such an unexpected decision by the fact that it was with such a number on his back that he performed at the beginning professional career as part of "Maritimu".
On August 13, 2014, after a goal against Ural, he was included in the list of ten top scorers in the history of the St. Petersburg club.
As for his personal life, Miguel is married. His wife's name is Petra. The couple have two sons (twins).
100 best legionnaires of the Russian championship. 3rd place
At the 83rd minute, Cherkizovo was plunged into silence. Danny he said hello to his family, a few seconds before that, with a light movement, he threw the ball over Guilherme and set the final score in the game with Lokomotiv. We guessed that this trick could be the last action of Miguel in a blue-white-blue T-shirt ...
... And all the same now, until the very last moment, I do not want to believe in the news that he is leaving after all.
This goal is like a litmus test of his career in Russia. With the last bit of strength to fight with the defender at the end of the match, choose a position and elegantly, and at the same time, it is so easy to throw the ball over the collar of the goalkeeper. Zeal and skill are what allowed Danny to score this goal. The same qualities that made him one of the best footballers in the history of our championship.
Nine years, in which more than 250 matches, 68 goals, three championships, two Cups, the UEFA Super Cup fit in. Nine years of great love between Miguel and the city, engraved on his arm in the form of a drawbridge tattoo. Nine years of difference between a puny boy who was brought to Russia by an incomprehensible wind along with his star compatriots, and a recognized master, who at one time was hunted by Barcelona itself. Today these nine years have come to an end and will turn from the present into history. The history of heated debates about the amount of the transfer from Dynamo, the goal of van der Sar, three recoveries from severe injuries, goals in the Champions League and much more.
The character of the captain. How Danny came back from the injuries "crosses"
Mircea Lucescu announced Danny's first appearance at Anderlecht. We remember how Miguel returned from past injuries of the "crosses".
His everyday life in St. Petersburg spun around the base in Udelny, "Petrovsky" and at home. In the morning he worked hard in training, making him admire his form and the skill of his teammates, even when he was already over 30. In the evening he went out on the field and once again fell in love with a blue-white-blue torsida. And then he drove home - in the summer he walked with his family in the park, in the evening he sat with his children and his wife at home, hiding from the prickly north wind.
“I have been living in Russia for 12 years and to some extent I feel myself Russian,” - Miguel never concealed that he had really grown accustomed to a country in which heat-loving compatriots most often feel out of place.
The love between Danny and Zenit, as expected, was spontaneous. He suddenly changed from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Suddenly left half of the star "Manchester United" in the fools. Suddenly he ran to the corner flag to celebrate in the style of a dog a goal against Porto. In the summer of 2015, he suddenly announced that he was leaving Zenit. A couple of days later, he suddenly signed a new contract.
“These two years are the last in my career,” he said then. Perhaps Miguel will still play somewhere in Turkey, China or the USA. But he will definitely leave a piece of himself here, in the endless expanses of a huge cold country, where he once went without fear from the small island of Madeira, warmed by the sun.
“I am returning to Russia to continue winning trophies with Zenit,” he said in the summer of 2010 at the peak of his career after a trip to the World Cup with the Portuguese national team.
“I'll come back and become even stronger,” Danny persuaded after receiving another serious injury.
Someone doubts that Miguel did everything to enter the field and work out (work out, not earn) his salary at Zenit. He speaks fluently in Russian, tears veins in the field, never got involved in scandals. An example not only for legionnaires, but for all RFPL players. In St. Petersburg, they will arrange a ceremonial farewell to the captain. He deserved it like no other.
“I thank you for the love that I have always received in St. Petersburg, thank you all for that! Thanks to the players, coaches and all the workers with whom I have shared these nine years. whom I recognized here and who were part of my life in St. Petersburg.
Just like Danny will forever remain in the history of the club. IN RFPL history... In the heart of every Zenit fan.
And all the same, until the very end, I do not want to believe that he is leaving after all.