National team mate, Francesco Totti’s opponent on the field, for whom he spent nice words. The words are of Giorgio Chiellini: the Juventus defender has dedicated a passage to the former Giallorossi captain in his autobiography “Io, Giorgio”.
“A great one I played with but almost only as an opponent – writes the defender in the chapter ‘The beast and the unbearable’ – is Francesco Totti. I had seen him in the national team in a couple of games before the 2006 World Cup, then he left the blue. However, between Juve and Rome we did not miss anything. Francesco was immense, really, and it was a shame not to see him perform on other stages, but from a romantic point of view it was wonderful that he dedicated his whole life to Rome. In the end he won much less than he could have, he was a Golden Ball, and perhaps the growth that comes from every change has been partially denied. But those who think it was a comfortable choice did not understand anything: it was only a love choice. When you don’t win, it can go through your head to look elsewhere for opportunities to do it, but Totti is a ‘Roman from Rome’ like nobody, and this explains why he didn’t move from there “.
Then the lunge: “That Golden Ball could really have won it, before the hegemony of aliens. They gave it to players like Owen or Shevchenko, big, but certainly not more than Totti. He had his eyes behind his head, they managed to play them that nobody could even imagine. I saw him express fantastic football, first with an explosive physicality and then with an immense class, albeit at a slower pace. On a technical, mental and gaming level, Totti was an authentic champion: simply a genius. And together with Cassano’s fantastic disorder, he formed the most beautiful and impossible couple in Rome, perhaps ever. Pure poetry.”.
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