Francesco Totti: ‘In my time football was made of love. Today it’s more business’

In an exclusive interview, the former Roma captain talks destiny, never leaving his hometown club and not letting his son beat him at pinball

PENSIVE: Totti spent 30 years at Roma. 

An hour into a conversation that has ranged from childhood TV favourites to the challenges of retirement, reflecting on destiny and “what if” moments that defined a career, I stumble into one topic that Francesco Totti considers taboo. All it took was a question about whether he lets his 15-year-old son, Cristian, beat him at pinball.

“No!” he exclaims, fixing me with incredulous eyes from the other end of our Zoom call. “Things have to be earned, not given!”