Matteo Brighi

Matteo Brighi (born February 14, 1981 in Rimini) is an Italian football player, currently a midfielder for Serie A club Roma. Brighi was named Serie A Young Footballer of the Year on 2002. A devout Catholic and consummate professional noted for his off-field humility as well as his incredible stamina on it, Brighi is strong in the tackle and committed to non-stop motion, brave in the air and great at timing his runs into the box when space is available.

Club career

Brighi started his career at Rimini. In mid-2000, he was bought by Juventus.

Parma

In 2002, 50% of the registration rights to Matteo Brighi were sold to A.C. Parma by Juventus F.C. as part of the deal which saw Marco Di Vaio head the other way. The transfer was worth €5 million at the time.^[1]

Chievo

In 2004, Juventus bought back those rights for a reported €11.5 million^[2] and sold them to Roma as part of the deal for Emerson, worth 16 million Euro.^[3]

However Brighi was then immediately sent on loan to Chievo for three seasons.^[4] He played for Chievo at UEFA Champions League 2006–07 third qualifying round, and twice at UEFA Cup 2006–07 first round. In his last season, he formed the midfield line with Paolo Sammarco and Franco Semioli for over 20 matches. Although Chievo relegated in June, their performance earned a transfer to different club.

Roma

He is now back to play with Roma. On July 25, 2008, he signed a new contract, keeping him at the club until June 2012. Before re-signing with the club, however, Brighi had offers from several teams and had agreed personal terms with Torino F.C. before Roma manager Luciano Spalletti intervened and convinced him to stay. Recently employed on the left-centre in a 3-man midfield next to Daniele De Rossi, formerly Brighi was used as a defensive midfielder by Roma, chiefly backing-up De Rossi. Brighi’s terrific engine, unstinting will and a string of man-of-the-match performances both in the Champions League and in Serie A, have seen him become a major talking point in Italian football this year and he's been largely credited for Roma’s rebirth in their current campaign, after a lacklustre if not dismal start.

After years of relative anonymity since his early stardom as a young player, his sudden burst back into the limelight led to Brighi being interviewed and featured by various media outlets in Italy. In a November 20 2008 interview with La Repubblica, Brighi called Luciano Spalletti “The best I’ve ever had in terms of managing the group, and I’ve had some great ones like Guidolin and Prandelli.” Around the same time he told Sky Italia, “I like to work, not talk. Other players talk and sell themselves, certainly better than I do. I don’t blame them for it. It’s just not me." In the same interview, he was asked who his favourite players were growing up and who he admires in football. "As a boy I loved Roberto Mancini when he was at Sampdoria, even though he played in a different position than I do. Now, as everyone knows, Damiano Tommasi inspires me. It's an honour to be compared to a great player and a great person like him." Tommasi has said of Brighi: “He’s more talented than I am, I just got the chance to play in a great team and win something special. I hope Matteo gets the same chance.”

On November 9 2008, Italian National Team Manager Marcello Lippi, who worked with Brighi at Juventus, was quoted in Rome newspaper Il Romanista as saying, "My memories of Brighi are optimal. From the human point of view he is a splendid boy, and from the technical point of view he is one of those diligent midfielders that every trainer would want to have. To my warning, at the beginning of his career, he was praised so excessively that too many expectations were created around him."

International career

At youth level, he played at 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, formed the midfield with Manuele Blasi, Andrea Pirlo and Marco Marchionni. He also won the 2004 edition and qualified to Olympics.

Brighi's debut for Italy came when he started the friendly match against Slovenia in 2002, when he was 21. However, he has been called up once again by Coach Marcello Lippi for 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Montenegro and the Republic of Ireland in 2009. On March 28, 2009, Brighi was put on as a substitute in the 80th minute against Montenegro, playing for his first time since 2002. Four days later, he was chosen for the starting selection in Italy's draw with Ireland.

Brighi was called up again to play in Italy's pre-Confederations Cup friendly against Northern Ireland. Brighi came on as a second half substitute for Gennaro Gattuso, and provided many spectacular passes, one of which lead to a goal. Although Brighi played magnificently, he was not selected in Italy's 23-man roster for the Confederations Cup.

Personal life

Brighi gave perhaps his most revealing interview to website romanews.eu on January 13, 2009. He discussed many topics, including: the pressures today's footballer's face and their bad decisions off the field, his admiration for Gennaro Gattuso ("My reference as a player, he's won the World Cup and many trophies with Milan"), making it a priority to not live a lifestyle of excess in the current economic crisis as people lose their jobs daily, his hobbies ("dinners with friends, cinema, concerts, novels"), when he realized his life had changed as a Roma player ("I've been here a year, but two months ago my life was different. Nobody stopped me on the street and said, 'Matteo, you are a phenomenon!'"), his best friends at the club ("Tonetto and Perrotta, two people who know how to detach from football, but I often eat meals with Aquilani, De Rossi and Okaka"), being single but dreaming to start a family one day, the fact that he does not see himself as unique ("I'm not the only player that goes home and reads a book instead of going to a disco all night"), and above all his intention to end his career playing for Rimini ("When I went away, I promised I would go back one day. And that day will come").

His younger brother, Marco Brighi, is also a professional footballer.

References