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| Wednesday 9 April, 2008 |
| Blog: Rue Britannia |
| Francesco Totti will be absent when Roma visit Manchester United. As Richard Godden explains, it's one less chance for the Giallorossi skipper to silence his critics |
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It's safe to say that Francesco Totti is not highly rated by British football fans. Despite being one of calcio's top No 10s in the modern era, Er Pupone has failed to light up the international and continental stage as often as his talent should have allowed him to. As a result, his standing outside of the peninsula is not as it should be - particularly on this side of the Channel.
“There's no doubting his quality, but if Totti's not doing something special, he's not taking part in the game,” wrote former Torino boss Graeme Souness in Champions League 2008 magazine. It's a harsh assessment of the former Italy international to those of us who have seen him shine in Serie A on a regular basis, but it's one that's likely to be shared by the majority of Brits.
A scorer of great goals who has now developed into a great scorer, Totti was recently voted No 4 in Calcio Italia's top 15 players since the magazine was born in 1992. He is Mr Roma, with almost everything good about the Giallorossi coming through him. Surely his talent cannot be in doubt?
However, we must accept that Serie A football is not everybody's cup of tea. So the only opportunity that a lot of football followers will have had to get a glimpse of Totti will have come in the Champions League or during international tournaments for Italy.
Although he was one of Euro 2000's stars - only being outshone in Holland and Belgium by Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane, two players destined to enter football's unofficial Hall of Fame - his diving and spitting shame, in 2002 and 2004 respectively, cemented his reputation in the eyes of the British public as a petulant brat.
This wasn't helped in 2003 when representing the Giallorossi at Highbury in the Champions League, as just 22 minutes into the game he was ridiculously dismissed for elbowing Martin Keown. Add in his Where's Wally-esque performance in the 7-1 trouncing at Old Trafford last term and it's not hard to see why they've got it in for the Roma skipper.
Having already missed a chance to make amends last week in the first leg against the Red Devils due to a thigh injury, it was hoped that Totti would be back for the return clash to help overturn a two-goal deficit. Unfortunately, fate hasn't been kind to Francesco and so another opportunity to impress on these shores has gone begging.
It's not so much the impressing part that irritates me though. As a fan of Totti, it has proved to be hard work over the years trying to convince people of his talent when all they see is the bad side of his character. Nonetheless, at least those of us in the know can be grateful for all the wonderful moments that Er Pupone has brought us in his career - and there's life in the old dog yet.
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If Serie A was not everybody's cup of tea, why then would those "Football Followers" want to watch Totti be it Champions League or Italy? And, would they really be true followers of football to neglect Serie A and just watch him only in Europe's best club competition as you suggest? Obviously not, would these followers of football not be better off to watch Totti in Serie A rather than wait every few months for him to make a cameo appearance in the Champions League?
A player cannot be judged just on one game, even if he did play against United and scored a hat trick to fire his side through he would always have his critics just like Zidane and Maradona, in fact, the English football followers would envy him even more for knocking out their best hope of winning the Champions League so, perhaps, Totti has proved his worth to English football without even touching a ball.
You suggest he is seen as a petulant brat for things which we see all the time in football, his elbow against Keown, who is no saint himself? What Elbow? If you remember well, replays from the game clearly show Totti being sent off for nothing. Then you mention the spiting incident, when he was provoked by petulant opposition in this case Christian Poulsen of Denmark who behaved like a school boy winding up his mates because they aren't sharing the sweets.
Even the greatest players lose their cool like Zidane who raged like a bull and butted Materazzi in the world cup and Maradona for Barcelona against Sevilla when el pibe d'or started fly-kicking the opposition like Ralph Machio in the Karate Kid.
Does Totti really need to prove his worth now as he nears the end of a rewarding career? Somehow I don't think so. What would be the point of Totti playing at Old Trafford? To be captain of a team which has more chance of being Lazio's feeder club than going through against Manchester United. Then, if they made the semi final, would they go onto the final and win it? It doesn't seem so. I always thought football was a team game rather than an individual sport. What's really funny is that you mention all Totti's mistakes in the past but you fail to mention his achievements when you should have done for those people who aren't "in the know".
Salvatore Landolina
Serie A is not everybody's cup of tea - that is a fact. Personally, I don't care for Bundesliga football, but that doesn't mean I boycott watching World Cup games involving Germany or Champions League games involving Bayern Munich. Secondly, are Manchester United really England's 'best hope'? In a season where they have three out of four in the semi-finals I'd say Chelsea or Liverpool are pretty good bets as well. As for defending Totti's spitting incident at Euro 2004 with the defence of provokation, come on be serious. We all like to stick up for our favourites but there is sometimes no defending the indefensible.
Bryan McAllister
English football fans are clueless. Totti has nothing to prove to them what so ever. I'm not a Romanista but I'm totally sure when I say that Totti is technically better than anything that England has even produced. Wayne Rooney? Please.....
Rosario |
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