Totti: "From 2001 to 2008 I was embarrassing. I would have gone to AC Milan. My regret is not having played with Ronaldo the Phenomenon"

Second part of the long interview with the former Roma captain and club icon, who spoke without filters.

For his 50th birthday, Francesco Totti has given a lengthy interview to Ivan Zazzaroni for the Corriere dello Sport. After the first preview, it is now time for the second part of a long conversation packed with behind-the-scenes stories from his past on the pitch, his present and his future. Roma features heavily, of course, but it is not just about that.

“I was embarrassing”

Francesco, you said that from 2001 to 2008 you were embarrassing. "Yes." He replies with a broad smile, one of his own. An Italian who came close to me? Everyone said Mancini, but I didn't really experience him, I was almost at the beginning. At Sampdoria he too played as an attacking midfielder, a centre-forward, a bit of everything. But not the same goals as I scored. I liked assists too, before Spalletti made me play as a centre-forward, I found them more important than goals"

Cassano and his team-mates

"My team-mates? The one I got on best with was Cassano. Above all on the pitch. And then Vincent (Candela, editor's note). Antonio and I used to see each other from time to time off the pitch as well, and he has remained a friend over the years. Vincent and I practically grew up together. When he arrived from Guingamp he was very disoriented, he didn't know Rome, he spoke only French. Let's say I looked after him.

I think what matters is the pitch. Off it, everyone is good at talking or, before the match, geeing up the group. Why don't you do this, why don't you do that. But I have to go and play football, I have a 90-minute match, I go onto the pitch and I want to enjoy myself. You have to know for yourself what to do. If you are a professional footballer, you do not need my suggestions, or a push."

One shirt

"Popularity in Rome? Since I stopped, it has actually grown. Perhaps because I was born, grew up and died in a single shirt. When you bring twenty-five years of history to a close, you are dead, and yet here in Rome, for everyone, I am alive, very much alive. It is the choice I made, the love I gave to the people and the way I have always conducted myself with others."

The World Cup

"If I hadn't gone to the 2006 World Cup? They wouldn't have won it. If I had won only one Serie A title, two Coppa Italia trophies, two Supercoppe and a Golden Boot, I would have remained, as they say in Rome, confined within the ring road. But no, also because not everyone wins a World Cup. I won it, we won it, but at that World Cup I was, in inverted commas, impaired. At 40, 50 per cent"

I would have liked to play with Ronaldo

"My regret? I'd have liked to play with Ronaldo the phenomenon. You know how much fun we'd have had together. With me behind him, he'd have scored 4, 500 goals. With my eyes closed. Like with Cassano? They are two different things. Maradona is football, he is the ball, there are no rivals for him. Then the others follow in a cascade".

The managers

But I trained with the whole squad and did what I had to do. Of course, on Monday or Tuesday I trained on my own because of all the knocks I had taken on Sunday, just a bit of recovery work. Was Mazzone the manager who understood me better than the others? Mazzone and Zeman. Bianchi wanted to send me away, it wasn't me who sent him away, but president Sensi.

I had influence at the club... I mean that, rightly, I had an impact, but I was a player and an important player, Roma's captain. It's normal that I carried weight, a different weight from everyone else. But I wasn't part of the round table."

Return to the club??

"The failed return to the club with the Americans? It always takes two for a marriage. Oh well, unfortunately it happens. You get married and you split up, a beginning and an end as in all things, I think, right? I left a role as an executive, with three years left on my contract, and I want to stress that. If I have to stay at the club and do nothing, I quit. I do not steal money".

The No 10 to Dybala

"You do not give someone the No 10 shirt just because they have played well for five, six or seven matches. I have always said you need to build a path that allows an important player to stay at Roma for a long time. There is no such thing as a temporary No 10. In the end, the decision on whether to give the No 10 to Dybala or to Marco or to Luca is up to the club"

I would have gone to AC Milan

"If I had had to leave Roma? I would've gone to AC Milan, partly because I'd fallen in love with them as a child. Those were the years of Sacchi and the three Dutchmen. They were winning everywhere and, as an Italian, I was blown away. They were a wonderful team to watch, truly wonderful"

Spalletti

"To get rid of the bitterness. The ice still hasn't completely melted. But I was pleased to see him again. In any case, you have to put everything that happened aside, also because I was wrong too, as I said before. I was wrong in the way I answered some questions."

On the pitch, it all started in Bergamo, I remember it. I came on, I think for eight minutes in total, and I scored. Then in the next match, seven minutes and I scored again. For me, that is God's gift, with Him placing His hand on my head. He must have said, 'This one I have to protect myself. Yes, yes, it can't end like this.'