Top 5 achievements in the career of Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti celebrated his 39th birthday last week in bittersweet fashion as the Roma captain left the field injured in a 5-1 demolition of Carpi. The Italian forward, whose birthday was on 27 September, has been widely praised for his skills and longevity in the game.A one-club player, Totti has spent his entire career at AS Roma, joining the youth side in 1989 and captaining the club ever since he was 20 years old. He has won one Scudetto, two Coppa Italia and two Super Coppa Italia titles with the Giallarossi in addition to a whopping 16 runners-up medals across the three competitions.Having won the Serie A Footballer of the year award twice and the Serie A Italian Footballer of the year award five times, Totti has been revered in the Italian capital. A spot in the Roma boardroom awaits the legend after retirement, but he has shown no signs of calling it quits.We take a look at the greatest career moments of Il Capitano.
#5 Oldest Champions League goalscorer
On 30 September 2014, just three days after his 38th birthday, Francesco Totti led his Roma side to their first ever match against Manchester City in a UEFA Champions League group stage encounter. The buildup to the match was slightly heated owing to the spat between the clubs' official Twitter accounts.
City welcomed the 'legendary player' to the Etihad by pointing out in a tweet that Totti had never scored a goal in England.
Il Re di Roma, who would later admit that the tweet had motivated him, would choose that night to end his English hoodoo with a delightful chip over Joe Hart, cancelling out Sergio Aguero's opener. To rub more salt into their wounds, that strike would also make him the oldest goalscorer ever in the UEFA Champions League, overtaking Ryan Giggs' feat against Benfica. He broke it again when he scored against CSKA Moscow.
Totti would score a club record 17 goals for Roma in the Champions League, helping the Giallorossi reach the quarter-finals twice.