Posted on Tuesday, 3rd May 2011 by Padraig Whelan
Francesco Totti is one of the greatest characters and footballers that calcio has ever known. Not many players divide opinion across the footballing world, and especially Italy, quite like Er Pupone. You either love Francesco Totti or you hate him. There is rarely a middle ground or grey area when it comes to the Roma captain although many respect his footballing abilities without liking him as a person. Having overtaken Roberto Baggio with his brace on Sunday bringing him to 206 Serie A goals and now fifth in the all time scoring charts his ability cannot be questioned.
To fans of his club Roma he is simply an icon. Totti can do no wrong and often does most of the things right on the pitch. However, there are incidents which have marred his image amongst European and world followers of football. He possesses undoubted class and ability (which his goals tally proves) and there is no arguing with this. But Francesco is prone to the odd moments of madness which do little to endear him to football fans outside of Italy. Just ask Christian Poulsen or Mario Balotelli.
Many European fans have the view of Totti as somewhat wild after these incidents every now again in his long and colourful career. Many sneer upon Totti and think of him as being volatile and arrogant. There is definitely an arrogance about Totti’s play as his delicious backheels and cucchiaios down the years show and he is not afraid to make the opposition look silly with his skill. It is perhaps slightly unfair to think of Totti as this kind of unpredictable and dangerous character based on a few incidents down the years.
However, whether these people may harbour disdain towards Totti for that side of his game, he silenced many of these critics in 2007 as, at the age of 30 years old (when many wrote him off as being ‘past it’), he finished as the winner of the European Golden Shoe with 26 strikes in Serie A. Whatever these people thought of il Bimbo d’Oro as a person, his prowess in front of goal had proven him to be one of the finest frontmen of his generation.
In Italy though, both Francesco and his antics are quite popular. How many other players could confuse the English language with Latin or release a joke book about himself as the best possible rebuttal to those from outside Rome who admired the striker yet laughed at him for his apparent stupidity. In fact, as a mark of the character of the man, Totti not only was affable enough to laugh at his own expense but also donated all proceeds from his book to charity.
In his home country, Totti is a much loved character and a hero all over the peninsula with most fans. As a result of his heroics with the national side at Euro 2000 and the 2006 World Cup he is a respected international and many Italians respect and love him for being a typical cheeky, laid-back Romanista who stuck with the club he loves for his entire career and continues to put one over from the ‘bigger’ clubs in the north of Italy.
There is something about the man though. He is without a doubt an extremely charismatic individual who is one of the most gifted Italian forwards of all tine. This is fact, just check the record books because when Totti finally finishes his resume will feature a Scudetto he was vitally important in winning, two Coppa Italias and Italian Super Cups as well as the World Cup along with countless individual awards. The simple fact is that regardless of whether you love Francesco Totti or hate him he will go down as one of the greats of Italian football. And rightly so.
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I have been a huge fan of Italian football for many years now and it is still my favourite league in the world. I support Milan but have a great admiration for many of the other teams and the way that they play. My favourite players to have played in the Italian game are Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi. I am currently studying for a degree in sports journalism.
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Tags: Azzurri, Batistuta, Francesco Totti, Giallorossi, Italy, Lazio, Montella, Olimpico, Ranieri, Roberto Baggio, Roma, Serie A
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