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Dani the archer

Dani Fernández is the official taker of Barça Senseit’s double penalties. They require a firm and careful shot, just like an archer. Dani Fernández talks about this ability of his and reviews his team’s season.

There are 10 metres between the double penalty spot and the goal line, glory and even victory. Dani Fernández knows all about that as he is the official double penalty taker for Barça Senseit, taking 17 of the 18 awarded to his team in the League last campaign. “I know I have to score and even more so if it’s a tight game, because it can swing things one way or the other,” he says. “I know the crowd can be booing or cheering me on, but I just try to focus on what I have to do.”

Goalkeepers and players

Dani Fernández has been playing top level indoor football for almost ten years now and has always taken the double penalties. At first he used to get really nervous but now with so much experience under his belt the butterflies have quietened down a bit. “I’m more nervous placing the ball than I am shooting it,” he says.

Dani tries to study opposing goalkeepers to increase his chances of scoring, though of course they are also studying the way he tends to shoot. “I’ve been around so long I know some of the keepers and they know where I might shoot,” he says. “If I think they know me I try and change things a bit. There’s always a game going on between keepers and strikers.”

Hitting the woodwork twice against Interviú

Fernández is a very effective penalty taker, having missed the target on only three occasions out of this season’s 17. However, only 9 of the remaining 14 led to goals as the other five were saved.

Unfortunately two of the three off target penalties were in one of the season’s most important games against Interviú Fadesa in the second semi-final encounter. The Madrid outfit had just won the League and then knocked Barça Senseit out of the title play-offs: “You have to score those penalties. It was bad because if I’d scored we’d have forced the third match. But sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, and both hit the same post.”

Dani Fernández accepts his responsibility. “I took them, it’s my fault,” he says. “When I score people congratulate me, so if you miss it’s your responsibility as well. People were good to me because I was down, but that’s indoor football.”

Missing forwards

Apart from nine goals from the second penalty mark, Dani Fernández scored another 15 to put him among the League’s top goalscorers. Key players such as Fernandao and Igor missed matches meaning others had to step up to the plate in attack. “Fernandao and Igor are natural strikers,” says Fernández. “With both out someone had to score and I was lucky enough to get a lot, though we all had to lend a hand.”

Dani admits it wasn’t easy covering a player like Fernandao: “Our game is heavily based around him, and when he was sidelined we lost our point of reference. Finding another one was tough.” Nevertheless, Fernández highlighted the quality of the entire squad: “In this team we don’t have three outstanding players and other normal ones. From keeper to striker the team is good which is why we’ve done so well, as if anyone was missing someone else could fill the gap.”