TOTTI ROMA IBRAHIMOVIC – Go back to talking Francesco Totti. The former Giallorossi captain made some statements to La Gazzetta dello Sport where he talked about his farewell and tried to give some advice to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who seems to want to continue his career. Here is an excerpt of his words
Read also:
Salah: “When I was playing for Roma, the fans cheered Totti at home and away”
The words of Francesco Totti
Francesco, do you feel like rewinding the tape?
So you want me badly … (smiles, ed). Five years have passed but I remember all the sensations and watching Ibra in the last period I relive them. Even though my situation was a little different from hers. I hadn’t had any particular injuries. I felt I could still contribute, but I was quickly pushed aside and if you play three minutes or five or ten once in a while it becomes dripping. I do not wish my last year to my worst enemy. It was very heavy mentally. Wearing. Because when after a life on the pitch you don’t play continuously, especially at a certain age, your body isn’t letting it rest, you’re making it rust. When you get used to just taking over, you slowly lose the rhythm of the match. And when you enter you realize that you finish second on the ball, that you are losing those hundredths of a second that make the difference. Because the head still tells you perfectly what to do, but the legs get there a moment later. You know you are better than the others but if the body does not “stay in the game” it becomes hard. Zlatan plays little at the moment and I imagine his difficulties also because his body is a demanding machine. But he has a fortune compared to me …
Which?
From what it seems to me from the outside, his desire to be on the pitch is as strong as Milan’s to still have him available. The problem is not the technician or the club, they are the number of minutes of play and what they physically mean for him in the following days, when you have to recover and problems arise that you never had before “As a football lover, I hope Ibra can continue . May the annoyances that are keeping him out so often go away tomorrow morning. It would be a gift not only for him, but for all of us who follow football. Ibra was loved by his fans and made his opponents despair (the term is more colorful, ed). But the day he had to say enough, everyone would be sorry. A bit like it happened with me.
So apart from the age you were at the crossroads, no other analogy?
No, wait … There are other similarities. I think I know what he is feeling, the questions he asks himself, the doubts, the desire that clashes with the reality of the moment. But first let me make a premise: Ibrahimovic was one of the greatest strikers in the world. A magnificent player from all points of view: technical, athletic and with personality. An absolute leader, an exemplary professional with enormous charisma. He has marked the history of football for the last thirty years. Champions like this we would like them to never stop. Because they gave joys, emotions, they were the essence of football. And they gave their lives to football, loving it more than anything else.
After quitting, how often do regrets appear?
Every time you see a ball roll …
And maybe you tell yourself: maybe I could go on a little longer.
It is normal to happen, it has been our life. I could still continue abroad or in Italy. There were Sampdoria, Bologna, Torino… But with a different shirt from that of Roma I would never have seen each other. However, Ibra will not have that doubt: if he wants he can continue at Milan.
The transition from the pitch to the sideline is often more complicated than expected.
Someone like Ibra, for the image and the impact it has, I think all the clubs would like it. Certain athletes or former athletes alone have more followers than an entire club. But you have to be careful not to become a poster or a flag to be waved only when needed. The day he decides to quit, Ibra understands what he really wants to do: what operational role he thinks he can occupy. And when he gets the proposal, he expects clarity and transparency. There are two questions to ask: what should I do and who should I do it with. He must know immediately, after him it becomes too late.
There is much autobiographical in these councils too.
I went from an excruciating goodbye to immediately making the Roma manager: a path that seemed natural and obvious to everyone, but the roles were not clear. There and then at the beginning you feel at the mercy of everything. If you have been a player and you have experienced the dynamics of the pitch and the locker room on your skin, you realize how you think in a totally different way those who work next to you and have never walked the pitch. They ignore aspects that make a difference in football. Perhaps also for this reason I was never really called to participate and decide, because my ideas at the time of the choices were totally different from theirs. I tried to immerse myself in a new role with humility: I never pretended to know about finance, marketing, contracts, organization like other senior executives in business management, but if we talk about football, players, technicians, I think I know enough to be listened to… The synergy between field men and company men is not always easy. That’s why I remind Ibra, when the day comes, to ask those two questions
–
