Marcos Senna

Villarreal

Born in São Paulo, Senna began his career with Rio Branco Esporte Clube. After playing for a number of Brazilian clubs early in his career, including being club World Cup champion in 2000 with Corinthians and Copa Libertadores 2002 runner-up with São Caetano, he moved to Spanish side Villarreal CF in 2002, from Associação Desportiva São Caetano. He only made 25 La Liga appearances in his first two seasons combined, however this was mainly due to a serious knee injury he picked up in August 2003. However, after recovering from his injury he became an undisputed starter, helping the club reach as far as the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2005–06; eventually, he also gained the club captaincy. In the summer of 2006, Senna almost joined Manchester United: he had one year left on his contract, and Villarreal were prepared to sell him for a fee of around £4 million. However, the deal was put on hold while United pursued Owen Hargreaves, but FC Bayern Munich refused to sell their player and, when United returned with a bid for Senna on transfer deadline day, Villarreal rejected their advances; he had become frustrated with the delays to his proposed move and decided to stay at Villarreal, signing a three-year extension shortly after the transfer window closed. On 27 April 2008, Senna scored a goal from inside the centre circle against Real Betis that he deemed "the best goal of my life". That season, as the player netted a further three times in a total of…

Senna was granted Spanish citizenship in early 2006 and was part of the Spanish squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. His debut came on 1 March in a friendly match with Ivory Coast, played in Valladolid. In the quarter-finals of the latter competition, Senna scored the third of Spain's four converted penalties, which resulted in the nation progressing to the semifinals at the expense of Italy, winning 4–2 in the shootout. He played the full duration of the final – a 1–0 win over Germany – and was named in UEFA's squad for the competition. Some pundits and journalists also named Senna as their player of the tournament. Senna's first international goal came against Armenia on 10 September 2008, a 4–0 win in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign. On 20 May 2010, after an irregular season with Villarreal, with several physical problems, the 33-year-old was left out of Spain's final 23-man squad, with FC Barcelona's Sergio Busquets starting in his place as the national team went on to win the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Senna usually played either as a central or defensive midfielder, functioning both as a ball-winner and in a more creative role of deep-lying playmaker. As such, his role has also been likened to that of a metodista ("centre-half" in Italian football jargon) in the Italian press, due to his ability to dictate play and assist his team defensively. In 2008, Glenn Moore of The Belfast Telegraph noted that Senna was known for his "passing, disciplined positioning, tackling and long-range shooting", praising the midfielder for his "genial personality and commanding performances." Senna was also a free kick and penalty specialist. Pundits and Senna's international teammates observed that he provided "balance" to Spain's midfield at Euro 2008, by doing the "dirty work", namely helping his team to win back the ball and control possession of the midfield through his work-rate, passing, and ability to occupy space, despite his diminutive stature and lack of physicality; his qualities complemented Spain's tiki-taka passing-based playing style under manager Luis Aragonés. Regarding his playing style, Senna commented in 2008: "My style is simple and objective. I don't like when players try to do easy things in a complicated way. The others help me in my role, but the important factor is that there is a lot of quality in our team and the opponents are worried about all our midfielders. There is more space left for me and, as I am a good passer too, that becomes important for the team." In…

Senna's younger brother, Márcio, was also a footballer. Marcos Assunção, who represented A.S. Roma and Betis amongst other clubs, is his cousin, and both were also midfielders. Senna is a Christian, and he spoke about his faith in the documentary "The Prize: Chasing the Dream", along with Kaká. He is also a member of the International Christian ministry Athletes in Action. Along with Raúl Albiol and Guillermo Franco, in 2008 Senna founded Evangélico FC, an organisation consisting of 140 athletes and 16 coaches which sought to promote Christian values among young athletes in Spain.