Francesco Totti: Champions League goodbye for the King of Rome?

On Tuesday, Roma travel to the Bernabeu looking to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Real Madrid and advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2008.

It will be almost 23 years to the day since Francesco Totti made his Serie A debut for Roma as a 16-year-old against Brescia. Since then, he has played more than 700 matches for the club, scored 300 goals and is their longest-serving captain by a considerable margin.

But, with his 40th birthday on the horizon in September, and after a testing few months, this could be his last appearance at the highest level of European competition. If he even features...

Born in Rome, Totti started out as a ball boy with the Giallorossi before moving into the youth ranks at the age of 12.

Ever since - and despite opportunities to move to some of the top clubs abroad - Totti has stayed loyal to his beloved Roma. "Nobody will ever again refuse the money I did from Real Madrid and Barcelona," he said.

Now, in the twilight of his career, Totti remains the 'Re di Roma' - King of Rome - even as his talent fades, his first-team opportunities diminish and others urge him to call it a day.

"You cannot hide from reality. If you're not up to it anymore, then enough is enough," he was recently told by former AC Milan midfielder Zvonimir Boban.

But Totti has not had enough. Not yet. Reports in the Italian press suggest that in a recent meeting with Roma president James Pallotta, Totti asked for a one-year contact extension that would see him play into his 40s.

Roma have apparently offered him an executive role for the next six years, but Pallotta was not giving too much away when asked about the meeting. "Just one year? Why not give him another five or 10 years on his contract? We're all making a much bigger issue out of it than it really is."

The 'issue' Pallotta refers to is Totti's recent fall-out with head coach Luciano Spalletti.

Frustrated by his lack of minutes, on February 20, Totti gave an interview saying he would "like more respect from the club". Spalletti had planned to start Totti the next day against Palermo but after hearing his player's comments, he called him into his office and told him he would not be involved in the squad at all. 

It was a brave move by Spalletti -  especially considering he had only recently returned to the club. It also caused plenty of controversy, even though Roma ran out 5-0 winners.

Fans showed their support with songs for their idol as he watched from the stands, while Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport said the decision was an "insult to history".

Totti's old coach Carlo Mazzone told Romaforever.it: "What [Spalletti's] done has destroyed the reputation of an exceptional person - both in football and human terms. Any coach with good sense and character wouldn't have done something like this."

Has Totti's reputation really been affected, let alone destroyed?

"The majority of fans are with Totti," says Sky Italy's Angelo Mangiante. "Even at the age of 40, they want to see him on the pitch. They are convinced that the King of Rome is not dead.

"The rift with Spalletti has had a great emotional impact and perhaps widened the gap between the two of them, but not between Totti and the fans."

While it seems Totti wants to continue - he recently said he is in "good shape" - recent results show Roma are doing just fine without him. Better than fine, in fact.

They have won their last seven Serie-A matches to move up to third in the table. Without Totti, or perhaps more so with Spalletti, who returned in mid-January to the post he held between 2005 and 2009, they have reignited their Champions League hopes and even have a faint shot at the title.

Spalletti has done what some other managers have not dared to do: put sentimentality to one side, leave the 'untouchable' Totti on the bench and do things his way. "I manage Roma, not Francesco," he said before the first-leg defeat to Real.

Whatever happens with Totti's playing career, it looks almost certain that his future lies with Roma. How could it not?

Now in his 23rd season, he has made more appearances for Roma than any other player (750), scored more goals (300), is their youngest-ever captain and became the oldest player to score in the Champions League with his cute chipped finish against Manchester City in September 2014.

His career may not be littered with silverware, but two trophies stand out: the Serie A title in 2000/01 and the 2006 World Cup. Totti was instrumental in both.

In the title-winning season under Fabio Capello, which also included a Coppa Italia victory, he was named the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year and received his first nomination for the Ballon d'Or.

In the World Cup in Germany, he played all seven matches, scoring a decisive injury-time penalty in the last-16 win over Australia and then calling time on his international career after the shoot-out win over France in the final.

Mangiante thinks he will be remembered with the very best in Italy when he does retire. "One of the best of all-time. Up there with Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon."

Fittingly, given his history with the club, Roma president Pallotta said over the weekend that the decision of retirement is down to Totti.

"He is the one who has to think about it," Pallotta said. "I spent a lot of time with him this week. Francesco has to think about what he wants to do. There is so much conjecture on his future, but only he can make that decision."

Totti has previously said that retirement "terrifies" him: "It will mean the end of a dream that I've been living for 20 years. I daren't even imagine the reaction of the fans."

Dare to imagine their reaction if Totti dazzles one last time on the European stage at the Bernabeu. Assuming he gets the chance...

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