He’s a playmaker. He plays for Roma. He’s a bit gorgeous. And you may have heard of him.
Once again, the age-defying antics of Francesco Totti came to the fore during Tuesday evening Group E match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The former Italy international may have turned 38 earlier this week but he’s still a class act, his equalising goal in the 1-1 draw demonstrating all that has been cool and calm about Totti since he made his Roma debut back in 1992.
Spotting Vincent Kompany out of position, Totti switched the angle of his run before brilliantly dinking the ball past Joe Hart in the City goal.
Magic.
The goal held extra significance for the attacker, who surpassed Ryan Giggs record as the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League, and flew in the face of the Manchester City Twitter account.
Cockiness comes before a fall.
We’re looking forward to hosting you @OfficialASRoma, and a legendary player such as Totti. He’s never scored in England, has he? #CityvRoma
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) September 30, 2014
He later admitted that the tweet spurred him on during the game. Totti had made his first appearance against English opposition 16 years ago when Roma faced Leeds, while City were at their lowest ebb in League One, two tiers before the Premier League.
Little did he know that it was take so long to open his account against an English side, but when he did it was sweet.
“City’s tweet? It really brought me luck,” Totti told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“It was a beautiful goal and a good performance. I really wanted to score as soon as possible as I had not found the back of the net this season. But above all, I am thrilled for my team because we have shown a lot of strength, which was not easy.”
While the goal showed Totti at his best, his overall performance exuded the same poise, class and ability that we’ve been seeing from Totti for more than two decades.
Speaking about breaking Giggs’ record, he added: “It really wasn’t something I was thinking of when I was on the pitch. Records arrive thanks to the help of your team-mates and what really matters is the result of the team. My main focus is on the team and not on myself.”
So, Totti is The Man. Of that there can be no doubt. We’ll even let the post-match girlish squeal pass…
