Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said Francesco Totti ‘was the best player I have ever trained’ and joked he will ‘make a TV series’ about him too, called ‘I hope we all die after’.
Ahead of the return to the Olimpico with Napoli, the Partenopei coach was inevitably asked about his relationship with former Giallorossi talisman Totti.
The two famously fell out during Spalletti’s second tenure as Roma boss and Totti rued how Spalletti became ‘a different’ person.
Spalletti made a reference to the original series of Totti called ‘I had hoped to die before’ when he spoke about the former Roma captain and revealed he ‘loved’ the World Cup winner.
“For Totti I did some things that I thought I would not do for any player, and I would do them again,” Spalletti said at a press conference. “I loved the environment, I loved Totti.
“With the ball at his feet, he is the best player I have ever trained. He’s one of the greatest in this era.
“I don’t want to spoil the series that I’m going to do on Totti: the title is ‘I hope we all die after’.”
Spalletti was then asked if he expects to be booed in the Italian capital and claimed he doesn’t ‘deserve those whistles’ that he has already experienced at Roma.
“It has already happened. I don’t deserve those whistles because I know how much passion, how much love, how much obsession I gave for Roma,” he said. “If they, do it to me, it’s something that becomes easy at a distance.
“And then I will be consoled by those memories of applause from the magnificent matches we won by playing spectacular football with equally magnificent players, bringing home the results and wins that later made the history of Roma.”