After he converted a last-minute penalty to beat Australia in the second round of the World Cup, Francesco Totti said winning the ”scudetto” with AS Roma in 2001 remained the highlight of his career.
Maybe he’ll have a new most memorable moment if Italy wins the title on Sunday.
Totti, who is still regaining his form from left leg surgery, played all 120 minutes of Italy’s 2-0 extra time win over Germany in the semifinals on Tuesday.
”It’s the realisation of a dream. We only need a little bit more to make history,” Totti said.
In the first two minutes of the first extra period, Italy hit the goal frame twice. Then Fabio Grosso’s goal put Italy ahead one minute from the end and Alessandro Del Piero added another score in injury time to avoid a penalty shootout.
”On the second shot off the crossbar, I started to have some bad thoughts. But we kept on believing and kept on attacking and we got two extremely important goals. It’s an indescribable feeling,” Totti said.
”Before Grosso’s goal when there was only a minute left, I was already thinking about how I was going to shoot my penalty, Totti added.
Totti still has about 10 screws and a metal rod holding the bones together in his left leg. He had a good first half but clearly fatigued as the match wore on.
”We believe until the end, we have the conviction that we can win at any moment of the game,” he said, recalling his penalty against Australia.
Totti began the Australia game on the bench and was visibly upset until he came on and won the game.
After Tuesday’s game, he voiced support for coach Marcello Lippi.
”He’s always believed in me and I want to thank him. He kept his faith in me during my comeback,” Totti said.
”We’re going together to Berlin.” – Sapa