‘Like dying’ Totti delivers emotional Roma farewell speech

francesco-totti
francesco-totti

Francesco Totti hit out at the Roma hierarchy after ending a 30-year association with the club on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference Totti said: “I never had the chance to express myself. I was never involved in a genuine technical project.

“In the first year, that can happen. In the second, I realised what I wanted to do and we never got together, never helped each other.”

Totti, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, spent his entire playing career with Roma.

He made his debut in 1989 and went to appear 786 times for the club, scoring 307 goals in all competitions.

He won Serie A in 2001.

The 42-year-old former Giallorossi captain claimed his views were not taken into consideration as he stepped down as a director, and had the following to say:

“Of course I have never hurt Roma and I will never do it, because for me Roma comes before everything, even right now. To leave Roma for me… This is far worse than retiring as a player. Leaving Roma is like dying. I feel like it’d be better if I died.”

“But unfortunately, as I said, for the everyone’s good, it’s better for me to leave, also because there are many people in Roma – I am talking about the hierarchy, who have always said that it was better if I left, because I take too much space.”

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