Opinion: 23 years of watching Totti the phenomenon

Many terms have been ascribed to Francesco Totti since he made his Roma debut 23 years ago today.

Luigi Riva called him a phenomenon, someone who was divinely blessed to do one thing and one thing only: play football.

Marcello Lippi heralded him as irreplaceable for his Italy line-up, as a great man and a great player.

Arrigo Sacchi echoed that sentiment, Enzo Bearzot added to it by stating that Totti is the only player he would have taken to his 1982 World-Cup winning Italy side, and Giovanni Trapattoni capped it off by stating that there is simply nobody like him: he’s unique.

Another term often comes to mind when thinking of Totti is longevity.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of his debut.

Twenty. Third.

To place that into context, when Totti made his first ever appearance for Roma on 28 March 1993, he was 16-years-old.

Roberto Mancini was still a Sampdoria player, doing quite well on the Capocannoniere chart, which was led by Beppe Signori.

Marco Van Basten was two years away from retiring and Marseille would go on to win the Champions’ League that year.

Totti has seen quite a bit.

Consider, for instance, that Real Madrid had just 6 Champions’ League titles when that young man stepped onto the pitch for the first of what would be 594 (and counting) times, that Lionel Messi was a five-year-old child growing up in Argentina, that a man named Jose Mourinho was not heralded as a tactical mastermind, but was merely a translator for Bobby Robson.

Roma’s legend has found a way to turn back time and delay it for what seems like indefinitely.

Typically, a football player is considered to be in the twilight of his career around 34, but the number 10 missed that meeting where biology, time, and general wisdom came together.

He’s managed a noteworthy feat nearly every year that he’s played past that benchmark, or for the prior five seasons, despite constantly shifting his role, playing time, and demands from the coach.

Under Claudio Ranieri, in the 2010-2011 season, he hit double digits for both goals and assists.

At 34, he scored more league goals that Zlatan Ibrahimovic with 15, and only six players managed more than his 9 league assists.

The following season, under Luis Enrique, he functioned more as an attacking bridge between the midfield and a young and unfamiliar attack, and though his season goal tally was at it’s lowest for 10 years, he still set the record for most goals scored for one club in Serie A.

What followed was the Zdenek Zeman, all-out-offense-at-all-costs era, and a 36-year-old Totti enjoyed an incredibly productive season. His 12 goals helped Roma to dazzle with one of the best attacks in the league, and his 12 assists were just one shy of topping the charts.

This, too, was coming as a nominal left-winger who dropped deep or drifted central as he pleased, with Totti free to run the show – and if anyone should have the keys to a Ferrari, Zeman knew that there were few better drivers.

The following two seasons under Rudi Garcia, Totti was issued as a false 9, with pacey wingers like Gervinho and Alessandro Florenzi on either side to capitalise on the captain’s brilliant quick passes and through balls.

His two goals against Inter at the age of 37 will always be remembered, and he managed 16 league assists during that two-year spell. In the first year, no one had more.

It was Garcia’s second season that Totti made his way into the history books again, with a glorious chip over Joe Hart to beat Ryan Giggs’ record as the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Champions’ League.

It was a decisive strike that sent the English press into sensational praise for the captain: it was, after all, his first ever strike during a visit to England.

For Roma fans, however, this was one strike out of 244 – one superb and historic strike, but those are just two more terms that come to mind when thinking of the enduring and powerful career that the club’s greatest ever player has had.

Thus far.