 Born in Seville, Dani started playing professionally with hometown's Real Betis, and appeared for its B-side during three years, a spell which included six goals in 27 games in 1999–2000.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 games and five goals.After having missed most of the 2002–03 campaign due to a serious knee injury, occurred in April 2002 and relapsed in August, 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 during the game.