Martín Montoya Torralbo (born 14 April 1991) is a Spanish professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who plays as a
right-back for
Super League Greece
The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...
club
Aris.
He started his career with
Barcelona, making his first appearance for the first team in 2011 and going on to win seven major titles as a backup. In
La Liga, he also represented
Betis (two spells) and
Valencia, totalling 129 matches and three goals over 11 seasons. In addition, he spent two years in the
Premier League with
Brighton & Hove Albion.
With
Spain, Montoya won two
European Under-21 Championships.
Club career
Barcelona
Born in
Gavà,
Barcelona,
Catalonia, Montoya started playing football for hometown club
CF Gavà
Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922 it plays in 1ª Catalana – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats.
Histor ...
, moving to
FC Barcelona's youth system, ''
La Masia
La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...
'', at the age of 8. After progressing through its ranks, he was promoted to the
B team
B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...
in 2009.
In the
2009–10 season, Montoya contributed 23 games as the
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player.
A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...
-led side returned to the
Segunda División
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
after an 11-year absence. He made his debut for the main squad on 26 February 2011, coming on as a
substitute for
Adriano in the last five minutes of a 3–0 away win against
RCD Mallorca
Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...
.
Towards the end of March 2011, rumours surfaced linking Montoya with
Valencia CF, who was willing to pay the €3 million buy-out clause of the player. On 30 April, he made his first start for Barcelona in a 2–1
La Liga loss at
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...
, suffering a broken
clavicle in the early minutes of the match and being sidelined for the rest of
the campaign.
Montoya again spent the vast majority of
2011–12 with the reserves. His first start for the first team occurred on 12 January 2012, in a
2–1 away victory over
CA Osasuna in the
Copa del Rey (6–1 on aggregate). Due to injury to
Dani Alves he played in the
final of the domestic cup, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 defeat of
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...
; he had previously scored his first official goal on 6 December 2011, helping the hosts beat
FC BATE Borisov 4–0 in the
group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Montoya scored his second goal as a professional on 1 June 2013, netting the third in a 4–1 home win against
Málaga CF
Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...
. He finished
the season with 24 appearances in all competitions, totalling 1,678 minutes of action.
Montoya expressed his desire to leave the
Camp Nou
Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...
in December 2014, after the signing of another player for his position, also-Brazilian
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
. He eventually stayed until the end of
the campaign, which ended in
treble
Treble may refer to:
In music:
*Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass
*Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range
*Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands
*T ...
conquest, his only major contribution being playing 80 minutes in a 3–1 victory at
Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in the
Champions League quarter-finals.
In July 2015, Montoya joined
Inter Milan on a
season-long loan for €1.3 million, with the option of extending the deal for another year pending appearances. The Italian club also had an obligation to buy him for €6 million, if he played 33% of all competitive matches during his tenure and each appearance amounted to at least 30 minutes.
On 1 February 2016, still owned by Barcelona, Montoya signed with
Real Betis until 30 June.
Valencia
On 1 August 2016, Montoya signed a four-year deal with Valencia following the expiration of his contract with Barcelona. He played 29 matches and scored twice in his
first season, with his team finally ranking in 12th place.
Brighton & Hove Albion
On 9 August 2018, Montoya signed with English club
Brighton & Hove Albion for €7 million, subject to international clearance. He made his debut in the
Premier League ten days later, playing 90 minutes in the 3–2 home win over
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. He added four appearances in their run in the
FA Cup, including
the semi-final loss to
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
at
Wembley; he played 25 league games during
the season, as the team secured their division status for the second time a row.
Return to Betis
Montoya returned to Spain and Betis on 25 August 2020, after agreeing to a four-year contract. His spell at the
Estadio Benito Villamarín
Estadio Benito Villamarín is a stadium in Seville, Spain, and the home of Real Betis since its completion in 1929. It has a capacity of 60,720.
History Construction
As early as 1912, the Spanish architect Aníbal González Álvarez-Ossorio had ...
was marred by injury problems.
On 8 August 2023, Montoya left by mutual consent.
Aris
The same day he left Betis, Montoya signed for
Super League Greece
The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...
club
Aris Thessaloniki F.C. on a two-year deal.
International career
In 2011, Montoya earned his first
cap for the
Spain under-21 team. He was picked by manager
Luis Milla to the squad that competed in
that year's
UEFA European Championship, and started in all the games as the national side won the tournament in Denmark.
On 25 August 2011, Montoya was selected for the first time to
the full side by coach
Vicente del Bosque, for fixtures against
Chile and
Liechtenstein; however, he did not take the field on either match. He then played twice at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
Montoya also represented
Catalonia, making his debut in 2011. On his sixth
cap, on 25 March 2019, he helped them to a 2–1
friendly
Friendly may refer to:
Places
* Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England
* Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States
* ...
win over
Venezuela.
Personal life
Montoya lost his mother Rosa María at the age of 17, to
breast cancer. He stated that this event helped shape his career as a footballer.
Career statistics
Honours
Barcelona B
*
Segunda División B play-offs The Segunda División B promotion play-offs are a series of playoff matches contested by the teams finishing from 1st to 4th in each Segunda División B group. Sixteen teams play to take four promotion places.
Barakaldo CF has been in the Segunda ...
:
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
Barcelona
*
La Liga:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
,
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
,
2014–15[
* Copa del Rey: 2011–12, 2014–15][
*]Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...
: 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
[
* UEFA Champions League: 2014–15][
Spain U19
* UEFA European Under-19 Championship runner-up: ]2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
Spain U21
* UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Martin
1991 births
Living people
People from Gavà
Spanish men's footballers
Footballers from the Province of Barcelona
Men's association football defenders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
CF Gavà players
FC Barcelona Atlètic players
FC Barcelona players
Real Betis players
Valencia CF players
Serie A players
Inter Milan players
Premier League players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Super League Greece players
Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players
UEFA Champions League winning players
Spain men's youth international footballers
Spain men's under-21 international footballers
Spain men's under-23 international footballers
Olympic footballers for Spain
Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Catalonia men's international footballers
Spanish expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Expatriate men's footballers in Greece
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece