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

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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

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:

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 ...

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