Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is an Italian-Brazilian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at Barcelona, where he was injury-prone. He played two and a half seasons with Inter Milan before joining Paris Saint-Germain in January 2012, winning 27 major titles all clubs combined. Motta also had brief spells with Atlético Madrid in Spain, and Genoa in Italy. Born in Brazil, Motta also holds Italian citizenship. After making two appearances for his country of birth in 2003, he represented the latter national team a total of 30 times since making his debut in 2011, scoring once. He appeared at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and two European Championships with Italy, finishing second at Euro 2012. Following his retirement in 2018, he coached the under-19 side of Paris Saint-Germain. In October 2019, he was appointed as Genoa's new manager, being fired in December following a poor run of results. In July 2021, Motta was appointed as Spezia Calcio manager, where he remained for one season. He then took over as manager of Bologna in September 2022. Early life Motta was born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo. Club career Barcelona Motta signed with FC Barcelona in 1999 at age 17 from São Paulo side Clube Atlético Juventus, initially being assigned to the club's B-side. He eventually graduated to the first team in 2001, making his official debut on 3 October against RCD Mallorca in a 3–0 home win. In the 2001–02 edition of the UEFA Champions League, Motta made seven appearances and helped his team to the semi-finals. In 2002–03's La Liga he appeared in a career-best 21 games (with three goals) as 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. Motta was also dogged by several injuries, particularly one suffered on 11 September 2004 against Sevilla FC, which sidelined him for seven months, during his time at Barcelona. He would eventually need surgery to rebuild the anterior cruciate and lateral