Thiago Motta

Thiago Motta Santon Olivares (born 28 August 1982), known as Motta, is a Brazilian-born Italian footballer who plays for F.C. Internazionale Milano in Serie A, as a central midfielder.

Having spent his early career at FC Barcelona, his main traits are physical presence, good passing, and a powerful mid-range shot, but he is also known to be injury-prone.

Club career

Spain

Born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Motta signed with FC Barcelona in 1999 at age 17, from local Clube Atlético Juventus, initially being assigned to the B side. He eventually graduated to the senior team in 2001, making his first team debut on 3 October against RCD Mallorca (3–0 home win).

In the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, Motta made seven appearances and helped his team to the semi-finals. Competition for places in an already congested midfield meant that he was unable to hold down a regular place in the centre. In the 2002–03 season in La Liga, he appeared in a career-best 21 games (with three goals), but Barça could only finish in sixth position, and also played an important part in the following season's long UEFA Cup run, which was eventually ended by Celtic; in the first leg, a 0–1 loss in Glasgow (0–1 on aggregate), he was sent off during half-time after hitting out at opposing goalkeeper Robert Douglas, who was also shown the red card, in an incident that happened in the tunnel.; BBC Sport, 12 March...
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