FRANCESCO TOTTI: Paddy Agnewprofiles the Roma captain who is determined to lead his side to the Champions League final in his native Eternal City next May.
IT SAYS much about Francesco Totti, “il capitano” of AS Roma, that his most talked about “hat-trick” of the season so far was scored not on the pitch but rather in the marital bed.
In an interview with the popular Italian TV programme, Le Iene, which just happens to be presented by his glamorous wife, Ilary Blasi, Totti cheerfully conceded the other day that the most memorable "hat-trick" of his career had come not on the football pitch but rather in bed with his wife.
These days, such is Totti’s seeming fragility that he tends to make headlines as much for his “off-the-pitch” activities as for anything else.
When he turned up at Rome’s Auditorium at the end of last month for the annual assembly of UNICEF Italia, he made a point of saying how, as the father of two small children, he took his role as UN ambassador “very seriously”.
Being Totti, however, he could not resist the chance to throw in a little joke. Looking down the light-blue UNICEF jersey he is forced to wear when he does his UN charity work, he asked: “It’s five years now that I’ve had to wear these colours for you. Could you not change them, please?”
Italian football fans do not need to be told that light-blue is the colour worn by Roma’s bitter city rivals, Lazio. There is one thing no one has ever doubted about Francesco Totti and that is his fiercely loyal attachment to the club where he has played out his entire professional career.
Some years ago, your correspondent was down at Roma’s Trigoria training ground with a TV crew on a Saturday prior to a big Serie A game. As we were filming, in front of the Trigoria club house, we were noisily interrupted by Totti no less.
He had just seen the Lazio youth team arrive for a match with Roma’s youth team and could not resist the temptation to lean out of the clubhouse and shout some cheerful, but distinctly not-repeatable abuse at them. At heart, Totti remains a true Roma fan.
For that reason, given this season’s Champions League final will be played in Rome, Totti has made no secret of his desire to see his team make it to the big night in front of their own fans. However, there are a number of obstacles between Roma and next May, starting with Arsenal next week.
For a start, there is the deep psychological scar left by that 7-1 drubbing in a Champions League clash at Old Trafford, two seasons ago. That might be water under the bridge but it is very recent water.
Then, too, there is the consideration that Roma have opted to make matters much more complicated for themselves by choosing to fight with their experienced right back, Christian Pannucci, excluding him from the Champions League list.
A third problem, and arguably the most serious, however, concerns Totti or rather his continuing injury problems. For too long now, he has been the talisman, playmaker and guiding light for this Roma team.
Anglo-Saxon critics may have their reservations about Totti but they are not shared by his team-mates. Roma right back and ex-Liverpool player Norwegian John Arne Riise, in his first season in Italian football, summed it up neatly the other day: “Totti is a great guy. He’s like Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, I mean he’s a fantastic player and a good guy who commands a lot of respect.”
The problem about 33-year-old Totti, however, is that thanks to ankle, knee, back and thigh problems, he has spent more time this season in the gym, in the swimming pool or on the physio’s couch than on the training ground.
When he turned out for Roma’s surprise 3-0 away loss to Atalanta last Sunday that was only his 12th start in 24 Serie A games this year.
Yet when he returns to the team, the impact is immediate. He may not run around much, he does not chase back or cover much but he can still lay on a terrific through ball. Just ask Roma’s Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic.
Against a young and vibrant Arsenal, Totti may find the pace of the game too much. It could be yet another of those big games that simply pass him by. There have always been those who argue that when the going gets really tough, Totti disappears.
To some extent, he finally silenced those critics with his crucial contribution to Italy’s World Cup win in Germany three years ago, notwithstanding that he had gone into that tournament on the back of a serious knee injury and subsequent operation that had left his participation in doubt right up to the last.
If things go wrong for him over the next fortnight, then the critics (especially the English ones) will be sharpening their knives.
If, however, he can conjure up one sustained last hurrah, then the Roma fans can keep on dreaming of a night to remember in their home stadium next May.
