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Francesco Totti celebrated his 39th birthday last week in bittersweet fashion as the Roma captain left the field injured in a 5-1 demolition of Carpi. The Italian forward, whose birthday was on 27 September, has been widely praised for his skills and longevity in the game.A one-club player, Totti has spent his entire career at AS Roma, joining the youth side in 1989 and captaining the club ever since he was 20 years old. He has won one Scudetto, two Coppa Italia and two Super Coppa Italia titles with the Giallarossi in addition to a whopping 16 runners-up medals across the three competitions.Having won the Serie A Footballer of the year award twice and the Serie A Italian Footballer of the year award five times, Totti has been revered in the Italian capital. A spot in the Roma boardroom awaits the legend after retirement, but he has shown no signs of calling it quits.We take a look at the greatest career moments of Il Capitano.
#5 Oldest Champions League goalscorer
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On 30 September 2014, just three days after his 38th birthday, Francesco Totti led his Roma side to their first ever match against Manchester City in a UEFA Champions League group stage encounter. The buildup to the match was slightly heated owing to the spat between the clubs' official Twitter accounts.
City welcomed the 'legendary player' to the Etihad by pointing out in a tweet that Totti had never scored a goal in England.
Il Re di Roma, who would later admit that the tweet had motivated him, would choose that night to end his English hoodoo with a delightful chip over Joe Hart, cancelling out Sergio Aguero's opener. To rub more salt into their wounds, that strike would also make him the oldest goalscorer ever in the UEFA Champions League, overtaking Ryan Giggs' feat against Benfica. He broke it again when he scored against CSKA Moscow.
Totti would score a club record 17 goals for Roma in the Champions League, helping the Giallorossi reach the quarter-finals twice.
#4 Leading goalscorer in Serie A among active players
Vujadin Boskov may have been Roma’s manager for only one season – but the Ultra Curva Sud owes a lot to the former Yugoslavian who won the European Cup Winners’ Cup as well as all three major Italian honours with Sampdoria. On 28 March 1993, he gave the then 17-year-old Totti his Serie A debut in an away match at Brescia. Nearly 25 years and almost 600 appearances later, Il Bimbro d’Oro is still going strong as the active leading scorer in the Serie A (244 goals).
Totti would score the first of those goals in 1994 against Foggia and would go on to establish himself as an integral part of the side. His goal scoring prowess would come to the fore during the two years that Zdenek Zemen managed the club, with him netting 30 times during that 1997-1999 period.
He would score his 100th Serie A goal in October 2004 and would break Roberto Pruzzo’s 106 goal tally to become Roma’s leading goal scorer in December that year. Totti would go on to score at least 15 goals in a season for nine straight years from 2002 to 2011, which included a phenomenal 32-goal season in 2007 and earning the distinction of being the all-time leading goal scorer in the volatile Derby della Capitale against Lazio (11 Serie A goals).
He is also the second-highest Serie A goalscorer of all time behind Silvio Piola (274).
#3 European Golden Shoe - 2007
Having decided to concentrate on his club career following the 2006 World Cup, Il Gladiatore conjured up his best individual performance in the 2006/07 season. Totti scored 32 goals for the red side of Rome during the season, with 26 of them coming in the Serie A, earning him the Capocannoniere as well as the European Golden Shoe.
Roma would reach the quarter-finals of the Champions league that season with Totti scoring four goals and would finish runners up in the Serie A to Internazionale, albeit by a massive 22 points.
However, Totti would have his revenge in the Coppa Italia final. Having eliminated AC Milan in the semi-finals, Roma would thrash Inter 6-2 in the first leg with Totti starting the riot with a goal inside the first minute of the game. The capital club would go on to lift the trophy for the eighth time with Totti collecting a trophy to add to his individual award.
He would remain the only player till date to become the European top scorer wearing Roma colours.
#2 Winning the World Cup with Italy in 2006
Despite being an integral member of the Italian national side over the years, Totti had never tasted tournament success till 2006 for the Azzurri. A brilliant performance in the Euro 2000 final had ended in a heartbreaking extra time loss to France and ‘The Golden Boy’ had been sent off at both the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 en route to an early Azzurri exit.
Having just had ankle surgery, Totti was fighting to be fit for the FIFA World Cup in 2006 and despite the media clamour to hand over playmaking duties to Alessandro Del Piero, coach Marcello Lippi assured him of his place at the World Cup during the Roma captain’s rehabilitation period.
Totti would play in all seven of the Azzurri’s matches with a metal plate in his ankle. He became the joint top assist provider at the tournament, setting up four goals as the unfancied Italians – rocked by the Calciopoli scandal – went on to win the biggest prize in football in a penalty shootout over France at the Olympiastadion.
Totti’s greatest moment came in the Round of 16 match against Australia when he calmly slotted home a penalty in injury time that ensured that Italy progressed at the expense of the Socceroos. His exploits even earned him a place in the tournament’s All-Star team.
Despite pleas from various managers of the national side, Totti would never play another game for his country, eventually announcing his international retirement in 2007.
#1 Winning the Scudetto with Roma - 2001
Is there anything better than lifting the World Cup for your country? Well, if you are the idol of Rome, then winning the Italian Serie A title with Roma in 2001 might just pip it.
In spite of the club’s stature, Roma had won the Scudetto only twice in their 74-year history and there was even more pressure on the club heading into the 2000/01 campaign. Bitter rivals Lazio had tasted European glory by winning the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 1999 and, even more painfully, had been crowned Italian Champions in the 1999/00 Campaign. It was a matter of pride for the Giallarossi to strike back.
Roma made their intent clear in the transfer window, signing Argentinian goal scoring machine Gabriel ‘Batigol’ Batistuta to bolster the side. And with Fabio Capello building the team around Totti who consolidated his playmaking abilities by transitioning into a creative attacking midfielder role, I Lupi raced to their first Italian title in 18 years.
The attacking trio of Totti, Batistuta and Vincenzo Montella would bang in 47 league goals for the capital side and the massive pitch invasion that took place after the 3-1 victory over Parma which confirmed the Scudetto was a reflection of what it meant to the fans to finally see their club reach the top of the mountain.
The win would kickstart Roma’s most successful period in history and with Totti ever present in their ranks, they would capture two Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italia titles en route to re-establishing themselves as a major force in Italy and a familiar presence in Europe.
Totti would break all Roma records in terms of appearance (746 games) and goals scored (300) in his still strong 23-year-old career at the eternal city.
