It was Diego Perotti who was the hero in Francesco Totti’s final game for Roma. The Argentine winger was the hero against Genoa with the game tied at 2-2. Roma needed a win to secure second place and passage into the Champions League group stages. It wasn’t Totti, but it was Perotti, who supplied the sensational goal in stoppage time on Totti day.
Totti was greeted on the field at the Stadio Olimpico by a massive banner reading, “Totti Is Roma.”
Francesco Totti vies with Genoa’s defender Pietro Pellegri. (Getty)
As Totti prepared for his final game, it’s being widely reported that he is being forced out of Roma. At least, that’s what the legend told his teammates at an end-of-season dinner on May 25. Totti allegedly told his teammates, “These have been complicated, difficult months. I would have liked to help you all more, but you know how things went. Now they’ve forced me to stop, and I can’t even think of myself not wearing the Roma shirt anymore. Anyway, thanks to all of you for your kindness.”
Grazie ragazzi! 😀⚽️
Roma are preparing to offer Totti a job in the team’s administration after his retirement. The official website report on the Totti dinner did not mention his assertions.
Totti’s problems with Roma’s management were likely not helped in September 2016 when Blasi referred to Roma coach Luciano Spalletti as a “little man” in a Gazzetta Dello Sport interview. Blasi said, “I do not know anything about football, but the whole situation was surreal. It was like science fiction, I could not believe it. He was kicked out of his own house. You do not do something like this. But the fans did not abandon him.”
Totti had been dropped upon Spaletti’s return to Roma after insinuating in an interview that the pair did not get along. Roma legend Carlo Mazzone has backed up Blasi’s assertions about Spaletti. Though Blasi later said that her difference with Spaletti had been patched up.