Even footballing legends have their regrets. Roma idol Francesco Totti hung his boots up last summer after defending the giallorosso colours for a quarter of a century. But there was a tinge of sadness for Totti for not having got to play alongside one of the geniuses of modern game.
Ronaldo would have scored more goals with me - Totti
"I've always said it - the only thing I regret about my career was not having got to play with Ronaldo [Nazário]. That would have been a dream for both of us. He scored a lot of goals but with me playing just behind him, I'm sure he would have scored a lot more", Totti explained today in an interview with Corriere della Sera. He was on the opposite side to Ronaldo on seven occasions - of of those at club level: there were four meetings with Ronaldo when he was at Inter, two after he joined Real Madrid and one during his year-long stint at AC Milan. Totti only managed to beat El Fenómeno once: when Roma scored a 0-1 away win against Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage in October 2002 - and he hit the only goal of that game.
Totti also spoke about Italy's absence from the next World Cup in Russia, ahead of tomorrow's draw in Moscow: "It pains me a lot that Italy won't be there. Like every other Italian, I never thought for a second that we might not get through the qualifying rounds. It was a big shock to the world of football. Watching the World Cup on television is going to be very strange".
