Francesco Totti has spoken again about AS Roma, saying the club can dream of the Scudetto. The Roma legend made the comments on the Shasha Sport television programme in Kuwait, where he was also honoured. In the interview he covered the current team under Gian Piero Gasperini, a possible return to Trigoria, the Scudetto, his retirement from football, the fans and several figures from his career.
Asked what Roma still means to him, Totti said: "For me Roma is everything, above all the Roma as a club, as well as the city. It has given me a huge amount and I have given a lot to it. That is why, as you know, I always say that certain things are done in two, not alone."
On whether he would like to work for Roma again, he said: "Perhaps you would have to ask other people to understand the reasons, but I do not complain, I do not hold grudges and I do not want to create any kind of problem. Absolutely. At this moment it is normal and right that things go this way. They are doing well, everything works, the club is healthy, the city is great and the team is very strong." He added that players with his experience can still offer something from outside a club: "Figures like us, who were protagonists for thirty years in football, can give something extra even from outside the club, because we know this environment and we know how football works. That is certain."
Totti described Trigoria as his home: "I lived there for longer than I lived in my own house. I grew up there and stayed for over thirty-five years. I arrived when I was twelve. For me going to Trigoria was like coming home. I never imagined that one day the moment would come to leave. But football is beautiful also for this reason: there are things that end." Recalling his last match against Genoa in 2017, he said it was "a historic, special day, beautiful to live but also painful, because it marked the end of a career, the end of a dream." He described the lap of honour: "I went around the stadium and saw all the people, from the youngest to the oldest: everyone was crying. I kept walking around the pitch and it seemed that lap would never end, so many were the emotions."
On 2004, when he was close to Real Madrid, Totti admitted: "At that moment, in fact, I did have some doubts. But in the end, as I have always said, the love for Roma, for the city and for the club, which I carry in my heart, pushed me to decide to stay. I felt it was right, that the best choice was to remain with that team." He named Mazzone as the coach who helped him most to mature, saying he "taught me many things about football and above all knew how to manage me when I was still very young." Of Zeman and Luis Enrique, he said of the latter: "At the time he was young and at the start of his career. Today we see how strong and important a coach he has become for football."
On being Roman and a Roma fan, Totti said: "It changes everything, absolutely everything. It is very difficult to live in an environment where everyone always expects 100% from you, demands something more than from other players and looks at you with different eyes." He said he felt responsibility as captain and number ten: "I was lucky because I was captain and wore the number ten shirt, so I had responsibilities. I would say they were at least three times greater." On the Roma supporters he said: "What the Roma public gives you cannot be given by any other fanbase."
Turning to the present, Totti said Roma must be better prepared in the Champions League: "You have to be more prepared, have a superior physical condition and an even better equipped squad. You have to be ready because you face opponents who are often stronger than you, always competitive and used to playing at European level." In Serie A he said: "I think Roma have great chances of achieving very positive results. I think they have the potential to do something important." Asked what is missing to become genuine Scudetto contenders, he said: "Probably one or two additions would be needed to strengthen the squad and make it a real contender for the Scudetto, a team capable of dreaming of the title." He added: "The club is working very well, the coach is a great technician and the team, in my opinion, is strong. But with three or four players of high level you could really make the difference." On Malen, he said: "If he keeps going like this, it is good for both him and Roma itself."
Totti also spoke about the national team, describing it as "a real revolution" with "a new coach, a new president and some new players", and said Italy's main aim is "to return to competing with the great teams of world football and to arrive at the next World Cup as protagonists." He also commented on Juventus, saying Spalletti "has practically never had all the players he would have wanted to field from the first minute", which makes it hard to work with players who are not at full fitness. Of Salah, he said Roma "was the starting point for Salah, before his transfer to Liverpool", after two good seasons in the Italian capital.
