Francesco Totti finally called time on his playing days with Roma on Sunday, bowing out as his side clinched their place in the group stages of the 2017-18 Champions League
When Andrea Gervasoni blew time at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, it not only signalled the end of a campaign that saw Roma chase Juventus to week 37 in the Scudetto race, but, more importantly, Francesco Totti’s 25-years as a Giallorossi player.
Once telling supporters, “I was born Roman and I’ll die Roman. I’ll never leave this team or city,” staying true to those words has only increased the worldwide affection for the former Giallorossi ballboy turned Il Capitano.
Despite just one Serie A title and two Coppa Italia medals for such loyalty, the memories we can reflect upon in the afterglow of the 40-years-old’s playing days with Roma are enough to position him among the greats of Serie A and European football.
During 844 games, more than 300 balls have hit the back of the net to spark euphoria throughout stadiums up and down the peninsula, while numerous teammates are indebted for the 100-plus assists Totti served up, and with such magnificence both were delivered.
As the curtain closes on any attacker’s career, television producers have little difficulty collating a showreel of strikes to wave them goodbye. With Totti, though, the problem is when to stop.
From the first goal – a crisp volley against Foggia in 1994 – to the last, their style, skill and importance define what Il Gladiatore has delivered to a football-mad country where presentation matters.
In the hostile atmosphere of the Derby della Capitale in March 2002, an effortless chip into the top corner from outside the box was the gloss on a 5-1 victory, but it was another delicate chip that best demonstrated Totti’s splendour.
At the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in October 2005, the Italian carried the ball from his own under close control leaving the Inter players in his wake, then, with the crowd, players and most definitely goalkeeper Julio Cesar mesmerised, produced exquisite chip sailing over the powerless Brazilian, and even some Interisti applauding.
Of course there were stunning volleys against Udinese in 2000 and Sampdoria in 2006, the latter from a seemingly impossible angle, but those lofted efforts highlighted how Totti was born to render you speechless.
Fans of Roma’s fiercest rivals took great pleasure in disregarding Er Pupone’s genius over the years, but even they have to accept his importance to the Italian national team’s hopes of major honours.
Although Euro 2000 ended in golden goal heartache, who can forget Totti’s panenka in the semi-final shootout against the Netherlands and, had he not been wrongly sent-off in the second round encounter with South Korea, the Azzurri may have had a better chance of being world champions four years earlier than they were.
That 2006 triumph best signifies how critical Totti was to Italy’s international aspirations. Forget the ice-cool injury-time penalty versus Australia, the 29-year-old went into that competition barely half fit and played every match of the competition to return one of 23 heroes.
Ten years on, the longevity and productivity of Totti, while reinventing himself across three decades – whether attacking-midfielder, trequartista, striker or false nine in Luciano Spalletti’s famous 4-6-0 formation – also displays his tactical intelligence.
Some will say Il Capitano’s lengthy stay in Rome has created this somewhat messy divorce from playing duties, but it was barely a year ago that Totti arrived from the bench to turn a 2-1 deficit against Torino into a 3-2 victory in 10 minutes, not to mention the Derby della Capitale in January 2015.
At 38-years-old, it was the Roman that hung in the air like a sprightly youngster to volley a second goal, and equaliser, past Lazio, before showing similar youthful exuberance with that now famed selfie celebration.
Every tearful fan in the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday will have cherished those last few fleeting moments with the man they have worshipped like a god for a quarter of a decade, regardless of how it ended.
Totti stated that a new chapter in his career starts on Monday. It would have probably been more appropriate to call it the second-half, but whatever it’s name, it will never live up to the beauty and joy the first has brought the world of football.
