 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, 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.