Dani Olmo: Who is RB Leipzig's Supercup hat-trick hero?
A Barcelona prodigy who valued first-team experience on the pitch over training at La Masia, Dani Olmo has been making strides at RB Leipzig since being snapped up from Dinamo Zagreb in 2020.
bundesliga.com has the lowdown on the Spanish attacking midfielder who lit up Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena with a sensational hat-trick that helped Leipzig to secure a 2023/24 Supercup first.
Dani Olmo
Age: 25 (born 7 May 1998)
Club: RB Leipzig
Position: Attacking midfielder
Country: Spain (31 caps/6 goals)
Watch: Olmo on fire as Leipzig win Supercup
Key stats
Born in Terrassa, on the outskirts of Barcelona, Olmo always looked destined to spend time at the Spanish club's famed La Masia youth academy. He joined from city rivals Espanyol in 2007, aged seven. Olmo finished top scorer for his age group in four of his six seasons at La Masia, but decided to leave Barcelona to progress his career, joining Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb on a professional contract in the summer of 2014.
Olmo quickly showed the talents that Barcelona had failed to secure. He was fast-tracked into Zagreb's first-team squad and made his debut in February 2015, aged just 16. In June 2019 he was named Croatia's Player of the Year and helped Spain win the U21 European Championships, scoring three goals in the tournament – including one in the 2-1 win over Germany in the final.
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The Spaniard made his debut in the UEFA Champions League group stages in 2018 and went on to make 124 appearances for Zagreb in total, scoring 34 goals and laying on 28 assists while playing in a variety of positions in the final third. The 25-year-old's preferred position is in the No.10 role behind a striker, which is where he played - for the most part - under former Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann after signing for Die Roten Bullen midway through 2020/21.
He made a total of 32 Bundesliga appearances that term, racking up more minutes than any other Leipzig midfielder (2,205) and contributing five goals and 10 assists as the Saxony upstarts finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich. He suffered injury setbacks in the two subsequent campaigns, although his return from a knee problem coincided with Leipzig's upswing in form last term, when Marco Rose's men combined a third-place Bundesliga finish with a second-consecutive DFB Cup win.
A remarkable start to the current campaign saw Olmo net a hat-trick against Bayern Munich that sealed back-to-back Allianz Arena wins for the Saxony-based side. The latter triumph, a solid 3-0 win against the Bavarian giants, helped Leipzig to Supercup glory for the first time.
Plays a bit like: a young Luka Modric
Olmo is seen as one of the most talented players in Spain's current crop of midfield maestros. Yet just like Real Madrid serial winner Modric, Olmo - who speaks fluent Croatian - was once a firm favourite at Dinamo Zagreb and he stands out for his superb technical ability.
The current Leipzig schemer's skills were demonstrated with a brilliantly-taken goal against Costa Rica in Spain's opening game at the 2022 FIFA World Cup - La Roja's 100th in the competition. Like Modric, Olmo's close control is also mesmerising to watch, and makes him decidedly difficult to play against.
He couples that ability with his will to drive the ball at goal, be that when in possession or with threaded through-passes. Added to his exceptional ability on the ball - on display with his second of the night in Leipzig's recent Supercup win - Olmo also has a taste for a long-range strike at the target should space open up.
Did you know?
Olmo is the youngest foreigner to play for Dinamo Zagreb, having made his debut at 16 years and nine months old. His also the fourth-youngest player outright to play for the famous Croatian club, who, like Barcelona, boast a prestigious youth academy.
What they’re saying
"He was a typical forward, a very good finisher. He scored goals in every age category. He understood space well, so he could always find room to score. He's a natural-born goalscorer." - Former La Masia coach Denis Silva Puig
"Dani Olmo is an outstanding footballer. It was a great performance by him and by the whole team too. The way he took the second goal was fantastic. The thing that impresses me even more though is how he drives the team on and helps the younger players." - Leipzig coach Marco Rose praises Olmo following the 2023 Supercup win against Bayern.
"I was eight years old. I was playing happily by myself with a ball, when someone - I think it was a friend of my dad’s - came over and told me, 'Hey, Dani, come here! You’re not going to believe this. You’re going to have your picture taken with Lionel Messi!' Apparently, Messi had a friend playing in the Castelldefels game and had come down to see him. Wow, Messi, right? In Castelldefels? What kid wouldn’t want their picture with him? Well, me! I was like, 'No, thanks. I’m good. I want to keep playing! It’s just a picture, right?'" - Olmo on his early infatuation with a football, which even Lionel Messi couldn't distract him from
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