The 2017/2018 Serie A football championship has started a few weeks ago, the first in 27 years without Francesco Totti. Today, 27 September, he turns 41 and we want to take this opportunity to wish him many best wishes.
What to write about Francesco Totti? Everyone knows who he is, even those who have never seen a football match know the name of the Giallorossi captain. One day, someone like me who was lucky enough to see him play will tell stories about football that will begin like this: "in those years Francesco Totti was playing ...". His career has been simply great. Anyone who loves the game of football, regardless of the team they support, be it Roma or Juve or Milan or any other, can only recognize its greatness. Totti has always declared that he fell in love with football and with Roma (as well as with his splendid wife Ilary, of course) and that he married them both.
Curiosities about Totti
By the way we can tell a curiosity that perhaps not everyone knows. When he was 12 years old and he played in the youth academy of Lodigiani, the managers of the same had reached an agreement for the sale of the young Totti to… Lazio !!! It was then Gildo Giannini who went to his parents' house and convinced them to choose the Giallorossi to help his son grow up in football. The president of Rome at the time, Dino Viola, then reached an agreement with Lodigiani on the basis of an exchange with two Giallorossi players, Cavezzi and Placidi, in addition to 300 million lire.
Probably if he had decided to go and play for another team, Real Madrid or Barcelona, Juventus or Milan, Manchester United or Bayern Munich, his wall would be much richer in trophies and would display at least three or four. golden balloons. But in the end he was great also for this ...
Many have been said about him. For the Romans he is simply the eighth King of Rome, for all the fans he will always be "THE" Captain. Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid since 2000 (with a short break from 2006 to 2009), said that, despite having created a very strong team by spending a lot of money, he has a great regret: not being able to convince Francesco Totti to leave his Rome. Diego Armando Maradona says he is the strongest player I've ever seen, which makes difficult things simple. Zdenek Zeman to the question "who are the 5 best Italian players?" answers: Totti, Totti, Totti, Totti and Totti. His former partner John Arne Riise declares that Totti is the closest thing to God that can be found on a football team. Similar statements, from personalities from the world of football and not, there are hundreds of them.
At the end of last season, Francesco left football with a letter read during a touching ceremony. Obviously, however, he has not left his team. Now he is the manager, one day maybe he will become the coach, surely he will always be Il Capitano.
Happy birthday Francesco!
