Dani Ceballos

Daniel Ceballos Fernández (born 7 August 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spain national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ceballos and the second or maternal family name is Fernández.
Dani Ceballos
Ceballos playing for Real Madrid in 2018
Personal information
Full name Daniel Ceballos Fernández[1]
Date of birth (1996-08-07) 7 August 1996[2]
Place of birth Utrera, Spain
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s) Central midfielder / Attacking midfielder[4]
Club information
Current team
 Real Madrid
Number 19
Youth career
2004–2009 Sevilla
2009–2011 Utrera
2011–2014 Real Betis
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Real Betis 98 (7)
2014 Real Betis B 4 (0)
2017– Real Madrid 53 (5)
2019–2021 → Arsenal (loan) 49 (0)
National team‡
2014–2015 Spain U19 13 (0)
2015–2019 Spain U21 29 (8)
2021 Spain Olympic 2 (0)
2018– Spain 11 (1)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Spain
Olympic Games
2020 TokyoTeam
Representing  Spain
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Winner2019
Runner-up2017
Representing  Spain
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Winner2015
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:01, 2 October 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:20, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

Ceballos started his career at Spanish club Real Betis where he helped them win the Segunda División. He was signed by Real Madrid in 2017, and two years later signed for English Premier League club Arsenal on loan.

Ceballos won his first cap for Spain in September 2018, in 6–0 home win over Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.

Club career

Real Betis
Ceballos at the Real Betis training ground, 2015

Ceballos was born in Utrera, Andalusia.[5] He joined Sevilla's youth system in 2004 at the age of eight, but was released in 2009 due to a chronic bronchitis problem.[6] He subsequently played for hometown club Utrera, and completed his development with Real Betis after signing in 2011.[7] He signed a professional contract with Betis on 22 February 2014, while still a junior.[8]

On 26 April 2014, without even appearing for the B team, Ceballos played his first game with the club's main squad, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 La Liga home loss against Real Sociedad.[9] He scored his first goal on 21 December, with the first of a 2–0 home win over Racing Santander in the Segunda División championship.[10] He featured in 33 matches and scored 5 times during the 2014–15 Segunda División season, as Betis returned to La Liga at the first attempt.[11]

On 15 October 2015, after lengthy negotiations, Ceballos renewed his contract until June 2020.[12] He scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 16 April 2017, with the last goal in a 2–0 home win against Eibar.[13]

Real Madrid

On 14 July 2017, Ceballos signed for La Liga club Real Madrid on a six-year contract,[14] for a transfer fee of around €18 million.[15] He made his debut on 16 August, replacing Toni Kroos on the 80th minute of the second leg of the 2017 Supercopa de España, a 2–0 home victory over Barcelona.[16] On 23 September, in his first start, he scored a two goals in a 2–1 away win over Deportivo Alavés.[17]

Ceballos made four appearances during the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League,[18] as Madrid won their third consecutive and 13th overall title in the tournament.[19] On 13 January 2019, after only 15 minutes on the pitch and having been constantly booed by his former club's supporters, he scored from a free kick in the last minute of a 2–1 victory against Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.[20]

Arsenal (loan)

On 25 July 2019, Ceballos joined English Premier League club Arsenal on a season-long loan.[21] He made his first start for Arsenal on 17 August in a 2–1 victory over Burnley, providing two assists in a man-of-the-match performance.[22] On 3 October, Ceballos scored his first goal for Arsenal in a 4–0 home victory against Standard Liège in the group stage of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.[23] On 28 June 2020, he scored his second Arsenal goal against Sheffield United in stoppage time to secure a 1–2 win in the quarter-final of the 2019–20 FA Cup.[24] He played the full 90 minutes in the final, in which Arsenal beat Chelsea 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.[25]

On 4 September 2020, Ceballos was loaned to Arsenal for another season.[26] In one of the interviews, he stated that the manager, Mikel Arteta, was the main reason why he decided to stay at Arsenal, and that since joining the club he had become a much more mature player, having improved a lot.[27]

Return to Real Madrid

On 28 May 2022, Ceballos came on as a substitute to Luka Modrić in the 90th minute in the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final, which Real Madrid won 1–0 over Liverpool.[28]

International career
Ceballos playing for Spain 2019

On 5 November 2014, Ceballos was called up to the Spain under-19 side,[29] appearing against Germany, France[30] and Greece in a tournament played in the latter nation.[31] He made his debut for the under-21s on 26 March 2015, replacing Samu Castillejo at half-time of a 2–0 friendly win over Norway in Cartagena;[32] four days later, in León, he made his first start, in a 4–0 win over Belarus.[33]

Despite beginning the competition in Poland on the bench, Ceballos' performances at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship led Spain to the second place. Subsequently, he was named the player of the tournament.[34] With the under-21 side he also took part in the victorious 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Spain team. He was named in the team of the tournament for the second successive tournament.[35]

Ceballos won his first cap for the senior team on 11 September 2018, playing the entire 6–0 home win over Croatia in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League.[36] He scored his first goal for his country on 15 November, in a 3–2 loss in Zagreb against the same opponent and in the same competition.[37]

On 29 June 2021, Ceballos was included as one of three overaged players in Spain's preliminary squad for the 2020 Summer Olympics after having missed out on Euro 2020 due to injury.[38] In July 2021, he was included in the 22-player squad of the under-23 team for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[39]

Controversies

In 2012, he labelled both Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué as "shameless", when they celebrated Spain's win at the UEFA Euro 2012 with the Senyera flag, in which he also added: "Get out of the country, Catalans!". In 2015, he wished that a bomb be dropped "on the stands and kill those Catalan and Basque dogs" at Camp Nou during the 2015 Copa del Rey Final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, as their supporters whistled the Spanish national anthem. In addition, he had written a pro-Franco tweet, and derogatory comments about Iker Casillas and his wife Sara Carbonero. On the final matchday in the 2015–16 La Liga season, he told Getafe's player Cala, "I hope you go rot in the Segunda División and the club disappears".[40]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 2 November 2022
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Real Betis 2013–14[41] La Liga 1000———10
2014–15[42] Segunda División 33520———355
2015–16[43] La Liga 34040———380
2016–17[44] La Liga 30210———312
Total 98770———1057
Real Betis B 2014–15[42] Segunda División B 40————40
Real Madrid 2017–18[45] La Liga 12250—4[lower-alpha 3]01[lower-alpha 4]0222
2018–19[46] La Liga 23360—3[lower-alpha 3]02[lower-alpha 5]0343
2021–22 La Liga 11020—5[lower-alpha 3]000180
2022–23 La Liga 7000—2[lower-alpha 3]01[lower-alpha 6]0100
Total 535130—14040845
Arsenal (loan) 2019–20[47] Premier League 24051206[lower-alpha 7]1—372
2020–21[48] Premier League 250003012[lower-alpha 7]0—400
Total 4905150181—772
Career total 20412251503214027014
  1. Includes Copa del Rey, FA Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  4. Appearance in Supercopa de España
  5. One appearance in UEFA Super Cup, one appearance in FIFA Club World Cup
  6. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup
  7. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International
As of match played 13 October 2020[49]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain 201851
201940
202020
Total111
As of match played 13 October 2020
Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ceballos goal[49]
List of international goals scored by Dani Ceballos
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
115 November 2018Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia4 Croatia1–12–32018–19 UEFA Nations League A[50]

    Honours

    Real Betis

    • Segunda División: 2014–15[11]

    Real Madrid

    Arsenal

    Spain U19

    • UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2015[60]

    Spain U21

    • UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2019;[61] runner-up: 2017[62]

    Spain Olympic

    • Summer Olympic silver medal: 2020[63]

    Individual

    • UEFA European Under-21 Championship Player of the Tournament: 2017[34]
    • UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2017[64]

    References
    1. "Acta del Partido celebrado el 30 August 2014, en Sevilla" [Minutes of the Match held on 30 August 2014, in Seville] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
    2. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017: List of Players: Real Madrid CF" (PDF). FIFA. 16 December 2017. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2019.
    3. "Dani Ceballos: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
    4. "Dani Ceballos: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
    5. "Ceballos turns 22". Real Madrid CF. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
    6. Aguado, Ángel (4 November 2014). "'Dani Nike', la perla que brilla en el Betis y dejó escapar el Sevilla" ['Dani Nike', the gem who shines in Betis and who Sevilla let slip away] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
    7. González, M. (28 April 2014). "Dani Ceballos, las lágrimas de una madre por un sueño" [Dani Ceballos, the tears of a mother for a dream]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 May 2014.
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