Thiago Motta

Thiago Motta (born August 28 1982, São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian footballer that plays as a defensive midfielder for Atlético Madrid and Brazil national football team.
Although born in Brazil, Motta is also an Italy citizen. He made his debut for Brazil national football team in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Motta began his professional career with FC Barcelona B in 1999 and eventually graduated to the senior FC Barcelona team in 2001, making his senior debut October 3, 2001 against RCD Mallorca.

In the 2001-02 UEFA Champions League, Motta made seven appearances and guided his team to the semi-finals. Although he had a string of fine performances, competition for places in an already congested midfield meant that he was unable to hold down a regular place in the center. He made thirteen appearances in the 2002-03 Primera season and Barça held on to second place.

Tall, physically strong and with a powerful mid-range shot, it is particularly unfortunate that he has been dogged by several injuries which have sidelined him for several matches during his time at FC Barcelona. In the 2004-05 season in which Barça won the title, Motta's season was put on hold because of a severe injury to his knee during a league match against Sevilla FC. He needed surgery to rebuild the anterior cruciate and lateral ligaments in his left knee. He was able to make a swift recovery and made an emotional comeback, taking to the field to rapturous applause as eventual champions Barça defeated Getafe CF 2-0 on 17 April.

Motta was a favorite with Barça fans who admired his ability to fight for the team in ways that other holding midfielders have been unable to do. However, injuries have prevented a good run for him in the blaugrana starting line-up. At Barcelona he was good friends with Camp Nou favorite Ronaldinho.

In August 2007 Motta moved to Atletico Madrid for €2M.