Knowing how it's hard to get to a legendary status as a football player, symbols such as Francesco Totti should be allowed to retire whenever they desire. For Italian legend Ravanelli, Francesco is being pushed to retirement before he even agrees to do so. AS Roma owner James Pallotta is the one to blame for this, Totti had the all-time goal scoring record in sight but he is being pushed to retire by the end of this season.
Ravanelli told Omnisport: "Totti has to play until he wants, he's a unique player, capable of anything. Everybody celebrated him but he has to be intelligent, a quality a few people share. Intelligence means not to put his club and his manager into trouble. He has given the club much and the club has given much to him. Now Totti doesn't have to put the manager, the chairman and the club into trouble. He has to have a frank relationship with them and understand that Roma comes first, before Totti."
Silvio Piola's record is still in reach if the Roma board lets Totti stay for as long as he wants, or at least until he reaches the 275 goals that Piola scored back in the day, Ravanelli added: "Totti is bound to go, Roma will stay. Therefore he has to be smart enough that his personal interests come after Roma's."
Photo credit: AS Roma