Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Francesco Totti staying on San Siro bench backed by Roma chief Pallotta

Roma president James Pallotta has sided with his coach Luciano Spalletti in a row over whether Francesco Totti should have featured in Sunday's 4-1 win over AC Milan at the San Siro.

Milan fans paid tribute to the 40-year-old, whose playing contract expires in the summer and is therefore unlikely to play again at the San Siro, and there had been plenty of calls from the Roma fans for Totti to be sent on as a late substitute, particularly when Edin Dzeko was forced off due to injury.

Instead, Spalletti replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina forward with full-back Bruno Peres and then justified his decision at a postmatch news conference, saying that had he sent Totti on, the media would have accused him of being disrespectful anyway by giving the club captain just a brief appearance, and Pallotta says Spalletti got it right.

"It was really nice to see all of the fans applauding Totti and his outstanding class, but the team always comes first," he told Rome's Il Messaggero newspaper. "The coach made the right change because we are fighting for a place in the Champions League.

"Besides, if he had put Totti on for the final five or six minutes, somebody would have called him disrespectful."

Former Roma coach Zdenek Zeman has criticised the club for announcing Totti's retirement before the player had the opportunity to do it himself. The Eternal City club's new sporting director Monchi revealed at a news conference and Zeman does not feel that was the right style.

"It's disappointing because he's the best player of the past 20 years and we have these problems," Zeman told RAI Radio 2. "It's bad enough that the club announced his retirement before he did. That's never happened. Totti will always be the greatest for me and I hope this is just a presumed ending and that we will get to see him again at the San Siro."

That is looking unlikely without him switching clubs this summer, but Zeman would not like to see him do that.

"Francesco is too much of a Roman and a Romanista, he couldn't turn his back on them," he said. "I'd just tell him that he is still the greatest and that he should do what he feels is right. If he feels he can still be useful to Roma, then he should continue, but if he sees there is no room for him and feels that others are ahead of him, then it's right that he gives up."

Totti has been promised a future within the club as a director, with a six-year contract already agreed upon. He may be reluctant to sign that if Spalletti remains in charge, although Pallotta says that Spalletti faces so much pressure from the local media that he would not be surprised if he walked away from the club in the summer.

Already on Sunday night Spalletti admitted it had been a mistake to return to the club last year and he has recently hinted that he will not extend his contract if he fails to deliver success this season.

The Giallorossi only have a mathematical chance of catching Juventus at the top of Serie A while they are out of the cup competitions and, should they lose to the Bianconeri at the weekend, could slip to third in the standings.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he left Roma because the media are writing so much rubbish each week," Pallotta said. "Just wait until the end of the season because I will have a lot to say. I will tell you the full story."

^ Back to Top ^