Francesco Totti and 14 other players who retired at Roma

May 29, 2020 Samuel Bannister Features, First Team, History 0

The end of May usually signals the end of the season, and that means it can also represent the conclusion of a player’s time at a club.

This week marked the anniversary of Francesco Totti’s final appearance for Roma — an emotional day at the Stadio Olimpico which saw Diego Perotti score a last-minute winner against Genoa to ensure the final chapter in his captain’s career ended on a high note.

The whole stadium was in tears for Totti’s farewell speech after the game, as at 40 years old, Roma’s all-time leading scorer reluctantly called time on his record-breaking career.

Not every club legend gets to retire at Roma like Totti did, though. Similar scenes greeted Daniele De Rossi for his farewell appearance last summer, but the midfielder decided to briefly extend his career by playing for Boca Juniors.

Likewise, Agostino Di Bartolomei was denied the chance to finish his career with Roma, as he was deemed not to be a part of the project when the club found themselves in transition in the mid-1980s. He subsequently went to play for AC Milan, and a few others.

However, several Roma greats have managed to end their career with the club. Working chronologically, here are some of the most memorable names who retired at Roma.

Giorgio Carpi

It is rare for a player to make such an impact at a club despite playing relatively little in the manner that Giorgio Carpi did. Technically a one-club man — only having represented Roman for one season before they merged with Fortitudo and Alba to form AS Roma — the midfielder had an association with the club that lasted more than 30 years.

Carpi’s playing career never really took off, despite being a starter in the first Derby Della Capitale and first match at Campo Testaccio. He spent more time playing for Roma’s reserve team, managing just 45 first team appearances before retiring in 1936, aged just 26.

Carpi was renowned for never taking a salary to play for Roma, while he also captained the reserves for the entirety of his stay. After calling time on his albeit limited playing career, Carpi took up roles off-the-pitch with the club right up until 1959 — with one of his notable contributions being to bring future captain Giacomo Losi to the capital.

Guido Masetti

The first great goalkeeper in Roma’s history, Guido Masetti joined the club in 1930, three years after their formation. His tenure in the Roma goal lasted more than a decade, and he became a Serie A winner with the club in 1942.

At the end of the season after Roma’s first Scudetto, Masetti called time on his career, aged 35. At the time of his retirement, no player had made more appearances for the club than his 364.

Immediately after his retirement, Masetti took on the role of manager for two seasons, guiding Roma through the two war-time championships.

Miguel Angel Panto

Leaving at the same time as Masetti was Argentine striker Miguel Angel Panto, who had scored 41 goals for the club since joining in 1939. The attacker actually rejoined Roma in 1945, aiming to reignite his career after the War, but he was no longer as prolific as he once had been.

Panto failed to score in the two seasons since his return, and retired for good in 1947 — after a season in which he had made 10 appearances. He was 34 when he called it quits.

Luigi Brunella

Another player who had won Serie A with Roma in 1942, along with Masetti and Panto, Luigi Brunella had, like Panto, left in 1943, only to return when the War ended.

The right-back played on for three more seasons upon his reintegration, still being a key player for the first two, before seeing his game-time significantly decrease in the third.

Aged 34, Brunella made the final appearance of his career as Roma lost 3-0 to Modena on the final day of a season in which they narrowly avoided relegation. However, just as Masetti had done, he stayed on with the club as head coach.

Luigi Giuliano

A distinguished defensive midfielder who made just one appearance for the Italian national team, Giuliano became a key component at Roma after joining from Torino in 1954.

He was a member of the Roma squad that won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1961, playing in the first leg of the final in Birmingham, but the following season would be his last.

Giuliano made just one appearance in his final campaign due to injury, but with Roma not having won a European trophy since, the medal he held from that Fairs Cup triumph made him part of a unique group and ensured he left a legacy.

Giancarlo De Sisti

Another Fairs Cup winner ⁠— albeit a junior player at the time ⁠— Giancarlo De Sisti came through the ranks at Roma to become a first team star, before leaving for Fiorentina.

After earning legendary status in Florence, De Sisti returned to his hometown club in 1974, by which time he was 31. While he had won the Coppa Italia in his first spell, there were no trophies for De Sisti upon his return, although he did make more appearances in his last five seasons than he had in his first five.

At the end of the 1978-79 season, Roma’s last before the re-appointment of Nils Liedholm and the dawn of an era of great success, De Sisti hung up his boots at the age of 35.

He was inducted into the Roma Hall of Fame in 2016.

Francesco Rocca

The tale of Francesco Rocca’s career remains one of regret for Roma fans, who still widely hold him as the best left-back in the club’s history. However, Rocca’s legacy could have been so much greater had he not been forced to retire due to injury at the age of just 26.

Having had to undergo knee surgery five times, the dynamic full-back had little choice but to walk away from the game before it took more out of him. His senior career had seen him play only for Roma, while also representing Italy on 18 occasions.

Fortunately, his final two seasons ⁠— 1979-80 and 1980-81 ⁠— ended with positives for the club as a whole, as they emerged victorious in each edition of the Coppa Italia, thus retaining the trophy for the first time.

Zbigniew Boniek

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Polish legend Zbigniew Boniek played for Roma for just the final three seasons of his career, but his association with the club could have lasted longer. The midfielder had the chance to join Roma sooner than 1985, but ended up at Juventus instead.

However, fate had it that Boniek would one day end up at Roma, and he became a key player as soon as he did arrive midway through the 1980s ⁠— winning the Coppa Italia at the end of his first season.

Aged 32, Boniek appeared for the final time in a 2-0 win over Fiorentina in May 1988.

Bruno Conti

Few players have had as large an impact as Bruno Conti at Roma after graduating from their academy. Apart from a pair of loan spells at Genoa ⁠— one of which sweetened the deal for the legendary Roberto Pruzzo to come to the capital ⁠— Conti spent his entire career with his hometown club.

The winger has won more trophies with the club than any other player ⁠— even Francesco Totti ⁠— with six. That number is also the small amount of players who have made more appearances for Roma than Conti.

There were emotional scenes when he said goodbye to the Stadio Olimpico in May 1991, with more fans turning out to pay tribute to him than had attended the second leg of the UEFA Cup final against Inter Milan at the same venue the day before.

It had been a while since the last of Conti’s 402 appearances for Roma, as he featured just once in his final season. At the age of 36, it was time for a new chapter in his career.

Since retiring, Conti has proven himself to be a good talent spotter, helping bring the likes of Alessandro Florenzi and Mirko Antonucci into the Roma academy ⁠— while he also had a brief spell as interim manager in the turbulent 2004-05 season.

Vincenzo Montella

When originally brought to Roma in 1999, Vincenzo Montella did not seem to be the archetypal Fabio Capello striker, but he soon proved to be a big success under the coach ⁠— and outlasted him by some distance at the club.

Scoring 21 goals in his first season, Montella then helped Roma win Serie A for the third time the year after, coming close to another 20-goal haul with 18.

Year upon year, however, his goal tally gradually reduced ⁠— save for an excellent record of scoring 23 goals in the aforementioned 04-05 campaign, without which disaster could have struck.

After a couple of loan spells away, Montella returned to Roma in 2008 for one last season, but he failed to score in his farewell campaign. Nonetheless, the goals he had scored before had seen him become just the sixth player to reach 100 goals for the club.

His final appearance, one month before his 35th birthday, came as a substitute in a 4-3 win over Catania in May 2009. Christian Panucci scored a stoppage time winner to ensure he went out on a high.

Max Tonetto

The following season also saw a retirement at Roma, although this time it was for someone who had not achieved quite as much as Montella. Still, Max Tonetto was a more than useful player, and had made more than 120 appearances since joining in 2006.

Due to injury, he barely featured in the 2009-10 season, and at the age of 35, it was time for him to bid farewell to football.

He left Roma having only made more appearances for Lecce out of all his clubs, and having won three trophies.

Simone Perrotta

One of the few players in Roma history with a strong connection to England ⁠— as an Italy international having been born in Ashton-under-Lyne ⁠— Simone Perrotta enjoyed the best part of a decade playing for the club.

Having joined in 2004, Perrotta went on to win the Coppa Italia twice and the Supercoppa Italiana once with Roma, also climbing to 12th on the club’s all-time list of leading appearance makers.

The last of his 327 games for the club was the final match of the 2012-13 Serie A season, as he came on in a 2-1 win over Napoli. He confirmed just over a month later that he would be retiring from the sport.

Federico Balzaretti

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Federico Balzaretti only spent three years with Roma, but thanks in part to scoring in the Derby Della Capitale, endeared himself to the supporters.

Unfortunately, just two months after that iconic moment, he suffered a serious groin injury, putting him to the sidelines for nearly two whole years.

The left-back was able to return for one final hurrah in the final game of the 2014-15 season, but Roma lost to Palermo. After that, Balzaretti knew he could no longer fight his injury, and moved on to a role as a director with the club ⁠— which he only vacated recently.

His departure from the club hierarchy prompted an emotional off-the-field farewell, as he penned an open letter expressing his gratitude for the years he had spent in the capital.

Bogdan Lobont

An entire five years elapsed between Bogdan Lobont’s final Roma appearance ⁠— in the 2013 Coppa Italia final loss to Lazio ⁠— and his retirement. However, his experience in guiding the younger goalkeepers ahead of him in the pecking order earned him two contract extensions.

Lobont finally hung up his gloves in 2018, having been at Roma for nine years but only making 28 appearances. In those games, though, he conceded just 26 goals, a ratio that most goalkeepers would be envious of.

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