Daniel Aranzubia Aguado (born 18 September 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper coach of Athletic Bilbao B.
He appeared in 303 La Liga matches during 13 seasons, with Athletic Bilbao – in whose youth system he grew – Deportivo and Atlético Madrid. With the second club, he scored one goal in the competition.
Born in Logroño, La Rioja, but nonetheless a product of Athletic Bilbao's famed youth academy at Lezama, Aranzubia made his first-team debut on 10 June 2001 in a 1–3 home derby loss against Real Sociedad.[1] After two seasons as backup to Iñaki Lafuente, he emerged as the side's undisputed starter,[2] helping them qualify to the UEFA Cup in 2004 while extending his contract a further four years.[3]
After additional struggles for first-choice duties with Lafuente in the 2005–06 campaign,[2] Aranzubia was definitely deemed surplus to requirements by the Basques after the emergence of Gorka Iraizoz, not appearing even when the first-choice was severely injured during 2007–08 (Athletic received veteran Armando on loan from Cádiz CF, and he became the starter).[4]
Aranzubia missed the first six games of the 2010–11 campaign due to injury,[7] but again finished as a starter for Deportivo. On 20 February 2011, he scored with his head after a 95th-minutecorner kick as his team managed a 1–1 draw at UD Almería,[8] becoming the first goalkeeper in La Liga history to score from open play.[9]
As the Belgian was unavailable due to injury, Aranzubia first played in the league with the Colchoneros on 8 February 2014, being sent off in the last minutes of a 0–2 loss at Almería after fouling Jonathan Zongo in the box.[12] He finished his spell at the Vicente Calderón Stadium with five competitive appearances.
^Aldunate, Ramiro (8 February 2014). "Ádiós liderato, hola dudas" [Goodbye first place, hello doubts]. Marca (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
^García, Miguel Ángel (17 April 2009). "Qué fue de los campeones del mundo sub20" [What happened to the under-20 world champions]. Marca (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 3 May 2017.