Portugal midfielder Danny has ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in three years and will miss the Euro 20112 tournament in June.

Danny suffered the injury when he collided with a team-mate during a training camp of his Russian club Zenit St Petersburg in Florence, Italy, and will be sidelined for at least six months.

“It’s the exact same situation that I had three years ago. Of course it’s really sad, but that’s life, and that’s football,” Danny told the Zenit website in an interview published on Tuesday.

Danny said he was returning to Portugal and would most likely require surgery on the injury.

Portuguese football federation senior official Joao Vieira Pinto, in an interview with Antena 1 radio, named Danny’s fate “a huge loss.

We are very sad, Danny would have been an important man at Euro.”

Venezuela-born Danny has won 23 Portugal caps and scored four goals. Portugal are drawn into tough group B with Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.