Managing a champion and even more an icon on sunset boulevard is never easy for anyone. Even the epilogue of the legendary careers of Alex Del Piero at Juve, Paolo Maldini at Milan and Xavier Zanetti were full of tension. But a split like the one that took place today between the Roma coach, Luciano Spalletti, and his captain, Francesco Totti hurts everyone: the player, the coach, the team, the club and the fans, right in a moment crucial of the season.
It happened that, after yesterday's controversial but respectful interview with Francesco Totti on Tg1 ("I'm not asking to play, but I demand respect for what I've always given and I would have liked Spalletti to tell me the things I read to my face and instead between me and him there is only a good morning and a good evening"), Spalletti faced the bull by the horns, taking back his promise to let him play today against Palermo. Instead he didn't even call him up, arguing that the case opened by Totti would have upset the team. The captain took note of it bitterly and immediately left the Trigoria retreat, to the bewilderment of his teammates.
If Spalletti wanted to defend the team's serenity, his retaliation had the exact opposite effect and is surprising in an expert coach like him. But evidently it is precisely in difficult moments that the quality and personality of a man is measured.
Probably Totti, on the eve of his 40th birthday, is no longer able to keep up with the pace of today's football but there was no need to humiliate him, either by sending him on the pitch three minutes from the end of the Champions League match against Real Madrid or by denying him today even the summons. It was enough to try to talk to him: Totti is a sensitive, truthful and perhaps a bit of a big boy (they call him the "Pupone") but reasonable champion. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this.
So everyone gets hurt and it proves once again how much the remoteness of ownership weighs: to manage a company, money is important but it's not everything. And humiliating a flag like Totti was the least of the follies that Roma could do.
