Dario Knežević

Dario Knežević ( born April 20, 1982 in Rijeka) is a Croatian football player. He is currently the Croatian first division club HNK Rijeka under contract.

Career

In the club

Dario Kneževićs career began in the first Croatian league with HNK Rijeka. For this club, the central defender completed 121 league games, had four seasons long regulars and in 2005 and 2006 Croatian Cup winners.

In the summer of 2006 Knežević moved to Italian club AS Livorno, where he signed a three-year contract. After initial difficulties in adapting to the defender in Serie A could win a regular place and played in the 2007 / 08 35 games for the club from Livorno, in which he scored three goals and prepared a hit. Despite the descent of his team, Dario Knežević was one of the outstanding players of the club and recommended for a place in the national team for the European Championship 2008.

In the summer of 2008 Knežević was committed by Juventus, who initially loaned him for 700,000 euros. Since he graduated only three league games for Juventus and the giants did not pull the purchase option of € 1,500,000, the Croat from 2009 played again at Livorno. In 2012 he returned to his homeland for HNK Rijeka.

In the National Team

Dario Knežević may already recorded ten inserts for the Croatian national team. Against the national football team of Hong Kong in February 2006, he scored his only goal so far. At the 2008 European Championships in Austria and Switzerland Knežević played three games for Croatia. In the final group game against Poland, he retired after 25 minutes of an injury, which ended the EM for him early on.