The editor demands, and for the writer it is a relief. Having to write something and not knowing what it is about is a swamp one does not usually come out unscathed from. The special - and relieving - request often sounds like this: "Hey, why don't you write something about so and so?". But this time, the "so and so" didn't help. The "so and so" was Francesco Totti.
I started reviewing his goals, most of them cheeky. Also his jokes, innocent and effective. Among these searches, I found that Totti has two joke books about himself. Admirable, he also knows how to laugh at himself. But I'm not going to write about that. What can be said that hasn't already been said about Totti?
The video is nine months old; we could speculate that it happened during the club's preseason, a time when European players usually have closer contact with their fans. A long line of people waits to greet Totti, ask for an autograph, and take a picture with him. This girl takes three steps with a smile until she gets close to Totti. They barely exchange words. She cries with joy. She can't believe it. Her gaze, the tears, and her eyes express the injustice of knowing that Totti is mortal.
This week, that cry, that gaze, and those eyes were repeated throughout Rome when it was known what everyone already knew but no one cared to assume and face in advance. Totti retired.
He wore the shirt for 24 years, in which he resisted everything. As a young man, they wanted to loan him to other clubs to gain experience, but he always refused. One of the many offers was sponsored by a recently crowned Libertadores champion, Carlos Bianchi. But no, he never left.
Later came the galacticos of Madrid. Florentino Pérez understood that after Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, and Beckham, the best he could bring was the Roma star. Negotiations advanced, but when the plane was taxiing, Totti got off. "I could have won everything with Madrid, but I would have been unfaithful, and faithfulness is a victory for me," he confessed years later.
Spanish writer Enric González, who lived in Rome to watch Totti, once portrayed him in his lines, and many - like me - had no choice but to quote him. He said something like this: if Totti had crossed paths with Einstein, they would not have had much to talk about, but the degree of unconsciousness and madness with which he played soccer destined this idiot to be a great genius.
Totti was an idiot. At least that was the version that echoed in much of the world when he stood up Real Madrid. However, he explains it very well himself: he may not have won everything Madrid offered him, but he was happy. His attitude was to do what he felt, without thinking too much. Like when he qualified Italy for the final of Euro 2000.
It was a goal, because every time Totti had a hunch and executed it faithfully, it turned out well. Like these 24 seasons at Roma.