Marco Motta (; born 14 May 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right back.
Motta is a former Italy international and made his senior international appearance in 2010; at youth level, he participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics with Italy.
Club career
Atalanta
Born in Merate, Lombardy, Motta began his professional career with Lombardy side Atalanta B.C. in 2005, following his promotion from the club's youth setup. He was a member of the 2004–05 Primavera Under-20 squad, and made his Serie A debut on 9 January 2005, replacing Riccardo Montolivo in the 65th minute. On 13 January he was a starter in the Coppa Italia, ahead Damiano Zenoni, a match in which Juventus was eliminated in a 5–3 aggregate. Motta made 22 appearances (3 in the 2004–05 Coppa Italia) in the remainder of the season to replace the left of Zenoni who left on 1 February, but due to the club's relegation, he moved to Udinese Calcio in a co-ownership deal, for €2.05 million, prior to the start of the 2005–06 Serie A season. Udinese also signed several players from Bergamo, namely Fausto Rossini (50% for €450,000), Cesare Natali and young players Massimo Gotti, Piermario Morosini (50%), and Michele Rinaldi (loan); Simultaneously sending Thomas Manfredini and Antonino D'Agostino (50%) to Bergamo as part of the deal for a total of €2 million.
Udinese
Udinese Calcio officially signed the wing back during the summer transfer window of 2005, and in his first season with the club, Motta was very sparingly used. An understudy of Damiano Zenoni once again, he made six league appearances and netted one goal. He also made his European debut for Udinese, on 2 November 2005, substituting David Di Michele in the 73rd minute in a 3–4 defeat to Werder Bremen. On 30 January 2006, he was injured and ruled out for the remainder of season.
He remained in Udine for the 2006–07 Serie A season, as well, and he made 16 additional league appearances (all as starting XI) with his club. In June 2007, Udinese bought the remainder of his contract from Atalanta for an additional €800,000, but the player did not remain in Friuli for the 2007–08 campaign. Atalanta also signed Zlatan Muslimović from Udine as part-exchange deal.
On 28 July 2007, Torino announced the one-year loan signing of Motta from Udinese, re-joining former teammate Cesare Natali, who was sold to Turin weeks earlier. Mainly an understudy to Gianluca Comotto, he made 24 league appearances (14 as starting XI) for his club, also scoring his second career Serie A goal.
Following a successful loan period, the player returned to Udinese ahead of the 2008–09 Serie A season, due to the injury of Cristián Zapata (right-back or central back). At Udine, he competed the starting line-up with Damiano Ferronetti (who can play left or right back), Aleksandar Luković (who can play left or central back) and Giovanni Pasquale (left-back or winger). He played eight league matches as a starter out of fourteen Serie A appearances that season. But at UEFA Cup, he was the starting right back at the group stage and played all four matches, three as starter, ahead of Ferronetti who played the first round. Udinese finished first in Group D.
Since Udinese had signed Dušan Basta for the next season (who can play winger or right-back) and since Zapata recovered, he was loaned to A.S. Roma, agreed a -year deal, which he earned a gross salary (pre-tax income) of €300,000 for the remaining six months of 2008–09 season and increased to €660,000 in the 2009–10 season.
Roma
Motta made his debut for Roma on 8 February 2009, coming on as a substitute in the 31st minute in Roma's 3–0 victory against Genoa. He impressed both his new club's supporters and his new coach, Luciano Spalletti. In his various post-match press conferences with Roma Channel and Sky Italia, Spalletti said "Motta gets my compliments for that performance. It's not easy to enter onto the field at the Olimpico for the first time in front of a crowd like ours, with whom it's difficult to exhibit tranquility. He has great speed, force and technical quality, and he was very good in the defensive phase of the game. He played with great personality."
Motta then earned a starting position under Spalletti, beating off competition from the likes of Cicinho, Cristian Panucci, and Marco Cassetti. He also played both legs of UEFA Champions League round of 32 matches that lost to Arsenal.