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At midday on Sunday, Pope Francis I, Papa Francesco to the locals, delivered his first Sunday prayer to a throng of more than 200,000 people in St Peter’s Square. Eight hours later, another Francesco stepped out to greet his public a couple of miles away to the north. The crowd at the Stadio Olimpico might have been a touch smaller than that which attended the Pope’s address, but that is not to suggest these followers were any less devout. |
Francesco Totti (papa Francesco to his kids, presumably) has long inspired a religious fervour among his faithful. Every year a section of the Roma supporters can be found wishing each other a merry Christmas on September 27, Totti’s birthday. More than one Roman comic quipped on the day of the Pope’s election that the new pontiff really ought to have taken the name Francesco II.
The player himself professed to find the whole situation rather embarrassing. “The fact that [the Pope] is called Francesco makes me blush,” Totti told reporters on Friday, before adding that he had high hopes for his namesake. “His face transmits calmness and kindness. Young people need this sort of reassuring presence in their lives.”
Roma fans, likewise, are comforted by the sight of Totti’s name in their starting XI. At 36-years-old, he has been playing for the club longer than some of his teammates have been alive, yet instead of slowing down Totti has lately shown some of his best form in years. Prior to this Sunday’s meeting with Parma, he had started more games this season (26) than anybody else in the squad. He led the team with 10 assists and had scored the same number himself.
Along the way, Totti had pulled level with Gunnar Nordahl in second place on Serie A’s all-time goalscoring list. That left just one more person to catch. Silvio Piola, on 274 goals, remained 49 goals ahead in first place. Totti would need to play on for at least two further seasons to have any shot at matching such a figure and even that would require remarkable consistency.
On Sunday he at least made a start. Parma had already been Totti’s favourite victims, a team the forward had scored against 17 times over the past two decades, and in the 70th minute he added one more. After winning a free-kick on the edge of the visitors’ area, Totti slammed a low, rasping effort into the bottom corner.
His team already led 1-0 by that point, Erik Lamela having put them in front after just seven minutes when he diverted a wayward Daniele De Rossi shot past Antonio Mirante. On another day the headlines might have belonged to Lamela, whose goal represented his second in as many weeks as well as a team-leading 13th of the season. Still just 21, the Argentinian has established himself as one of the brightest young talents in the division.
On this occasion, though, he was outshone by a man 15 years his senior. Totti’s strike had arrived at a critical juncture, with Parma in the ascendancy and chasing hard for an equaliser, yet it still only represented one small part of his overall contribution.
— Guardian News Service