FORGET LACK OF TITLES, TOTTI IS A LEGEND

Rafa Benitez once said that a lot of things that has to do with football are nothing but “lies.”


Most especially when it comes to metric used in placing players and clubs into the various categories from useless to greatest.

In spending 26 years at AS Roma, Francesco Totti finally hung up his boots at the age of 40 having joined theGiallorossi in 1989 as a 13-year old and lived his whole life in the city of Rome.

With the characteristic manner evaluations almost immediately trail retiring players, ball shot analysis of where the Italian belongs among the league of great players will for sure trail tabloids till another news worthy item drops. That is if he is even allowed the status of a great player.

The problem one-man squad professionals have – of course they are very few – isthe scoffy assumptions that players must prove themselves in different or at least bigger teams and leagues before they can be considered great.

Another harsher metric is the trophy counts especially the majors. This particular metric will for sure stay around because afterall the ultimate point of playing football is to get the round leather over the line between the sticks of your opposition and the ultimate point of winning is the trophies.

And that is where the Italian’s problem lies. In choosing to be with Roma and thereby turning down big money moves to Real Madrid and AC Milan, FrancescoTotti willingly risked having his whole career scoffed off by distant observers.

But thing is, it hardly matters. Personal validations always overcome external ones as long as they stand on the solid rock of truth. And the truth in this case is that as far as legends go FrancesscoTotti’s deserves as much respect as that garnered by Giangluigi Buffon and Paulo Maldini.