This article has been brewing in my mind for a while, to get it out of the way immediately I am a Romanista. I know what Totti is, I know what he can do, I know his limits, and I also know that at the end of the day, Totti is not given enough credit by most soccer fans. It is understandable though, most people associate Totti with a lower Italian team that most of the time comes short and never wins anything of importance, others remember him for incidents that happened with the national team that brought out the negative sides of his personality completely ignoring all the good he had done prior. But the general consensus with Totti seems to be an overall sense of wasted potential in that by remaining at Roma he wasted his career and confined himself to a cult hero status.
In truth however, and I realize I am a Romanista, the notion that Totti is merely a cult hero is anything but deserved and (and now prepare to be shocked) Francesco Totti is likely the greatest Italian player in the post-Baggio generation. Most would argue that the best players of the said post-Baggio era would be Del Piero, Totti, and Maldini. These are the three Italians that have enjoyed the most continued and sustained success since the 1994 world cup. Because it is difficult to compare defensive and offensive players, I will therefore focus on the other player in that list Alessandro Del Piero. From a sheer numbers perspective the two are quite close with Del Piero having notched 206 career Serie A goals, and Totti having 207, but it is when we look at the teams that the two have played with that we can differentiate and conclude that Totti was superior. Del Piero spent his career playing with Juve, the old lady of Italian soccer, with a bevy of superstars along his side giving him the ball.
The following is a list of the 10 best players that Del Piero played alongside in no particular order:
Zidane, Trezeguet, Cannavaro, Buffon, Baggio, Nedved, Ferrara, Conte, Pessotto, Tacchinardi
Here now are the 10 best players that Totti played alongside in his time at Roma:
Giannini, Batistuta, Montella, Delvecchio, Balbo, De Rossi, Candela, Cafu, Aldair, Cassano
That doubt that gulf in class would play a factor in anyone’s career and yet Totti somehow managed to score over 200 goals as well as drag his team to obtain phenomenal results. During his time in Rome aside from winning the Scudetto in 2001, Roma finished twice a total of six times as well as winning 2 Coppa Italia and 2 super cups, not bad at all for a team that during the mid 90s hovered around mid table. Once again, these were far from being fantastic sides whose ranks included the likes of no-names such as Nonda, Baruso, and the absolutely useless Simone “so ‘na pippa” Loria. Yet, they were always competitive due in large part to Totti who would keep scoring.
Even more astonishing when one considers Totti’s goal scoring record is that his entire career was not spent as a striker. In fact in the beginning he often played on the wing before moving to trequartista under Capello, he would begin to grow his legend at this position before making the jump to striker under Spaletti were he seemed to fit right in. His ability to adapt from a midfield assist man to a bomber indicates versatility rare amongst most players who spend the better part of their careers in the same position. You’d have a hard time seeing Del Piero in the midfield and yet, Totti played Mid in 2006 for the World Cup winning team.
Which brings us to our next argument, spitting and corrupt referees aside, Totti’s international career is also vastly underrated. The Euro 2000 final saw Totti put on a display of brilliance that has only been matched by Cannavaro’s performance vs Germany in 2006. He was everywhere, out running every French player and setting up concrete goal opportunities for the Azzurri that were squandered more often than not (Del Piero happened to blow the most memorable one, coincidence? I think not), not to mention the cheeky chip he put past Van Der Sar with a coolness in the semi finals. It is occasions like this that often go overlooked when it comes to Totti, no one seems to remember all he has done for the national team because when he was at the peak of his career he didn’t produce. The results are there however, and while they are not of Maradona-like stature, it certainly is a more than respectable national career that is marked by that famous World Cup in 2006.
A concession must be made however, that Del Piero’s career could have been much greater were it not for injuries, and the point is valid. In the same way that Totti was crippled by the players around him Del Piero was never the same player following his series of injuries, but one can also say that were Del Piero healthy, those great players would still be getting him the ball whereas Totti would still be a man dragging a team to victory. It is fascinating debate and one that will go on for ages, but in my opinion and for the reasons that were listed above, I believe Totti to be the greatest Italian player of the past generation. You may not agree with me, but you can certainly agree that if he had gone to Real Madrid in that period between 2002 and 2005 and joined the Galacticos, he certainly would have been regarded as a greater player than he is now by countless more people.
And that in the end is my point, Roma has been like a chain strapped to his leg preventing him from achieving legendary status, when he certainly should be. Francesco Totti deserves more respect than he gets, you may not like his attitude, but as a player, there is no debating he deserves to be mentioned alongside the Baggio and Maldini as one of the greatest Italians to ever play the sport.
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