Francesco Totti turns 38 and discusses his rapport with Daniele De Rossi, Gigi Buffon, Antonio Cassano and Italy regrets.
Roma host Verona today at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Francesco Totti turns 38 and discusses his rapport with Daniele De Rossi, Gigi Buffon, Antonio Cassano and Italy regrets.
Roma host Verona today at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Perhaps surprisingly for players who so represent each side of the Rome Derby, Lazio” data-scaytid=”6″>ex-Lazio hero Alessandro Nesta remains one of Totti’s best friends in the game.
“Nesta was a great friend growing up, as we went through the whole youth sector together and even then you could tell we’d become captains of our respective teams,” Totti told Roma TV and Roma Radio.
“We hung out regularly when we played for Italy, even at youth level, and we are still in contact today.
“With De Rossi I shared many wonderful and horrible moments. We won a World Cup together and hope to win again. He is an important figure in the side and I see him as the captain despite the fact he doesn’t wear the armband. He and Florenzi will be captain of Roma sooner or later. Hopefully later…”
Now Roma are battling with Juventus for the Scudetto, but that involves challenging another of Totti’s chums.
“Buffon is one of the few real friends I have in football. I have always respected him.”
Totti famously had a strong bond with Cassano while they were teammates at Roma, then a huge falling out and reconnected in recent years.
“Cassano? He’s crazy! In terms of technique he is one of the best players in the world. It’s just that his head let him down.
“I wish I had played with Ronaldo, the real one from his days at Inter. I’d also certainly have loved to work with Carlo Ancelotti.”
Totti is still going strong at 38, but he decided to retire from international duty after the triumph in Germany in 2006.
“The World Cup is the dream of any player and it marks you for life. You walk around and when someone calls you ‘World Champion’ even today you stick your chest out and feel strong.
“Mind you, if I hadn’t scored that penalty against Australia then we probably wouldn’t even have qualified for the quarter-finals. I had courage and the cool head to take it. I was coming off a bad injury and didn’t even know if I’d be able to participate in the tournament, but with determination and hunger, I did it.”
That wasn’t his most famous penalty in an Azzurri jersey, as Totti chipped Edwin van der Sar in the Euro 2000 semi-final shoot-out.
“Every time I watch that back, I don’t understand if I was mad or not. At the time I was scared, but then courage, my head and instinct told me to do it anyway.”
There were also lows for Italy and when asked about a regret, he picked spitting at Christian Poulsen in Euro 2004.