Stats prove Francesco Totti’s new role was a tactical master stroke from Luciano Spalletti

For the vast majority of professional footballers at the highest level, their careers end way before their 40s.

However, just a fortnight before he marks his fourth decade on planet Earth, Francesco Totti is still proving to be intrinsic to AS Roma’s success.

A prime example of the legendary footballer coming to his club’s rescue was Sunday’s win against Sampdoria.

Roma were trailing 2-1 and were being outclassed by Sampdoria in the first half. An extended break at half time due to the tumultuous weather conditions was followed by the introduction of Totti, who immediately changed the course of the game.

He began the comeback by producing this outstanding assist for Eden Dzeko that brought things level on the 60-minute mark.

https://twitter.com/maurocossu90/status/774992097833254912

In the 90th minute, Roma were presented with a glorious chance to win the game outright as they were awarded a penalty.

Totti stepped up and his shoulders did not buckle under all that pressure. He coolly slotted home the penalty to hand Sampdoria their first league defeat of the season.

The goal also means Totti has now scored in 23 consecutive Serie A seasons for his boyhood club. He has scored in every season from 1993/94 onwards.

https://twitter.com/IFTV_Official/status/775084452183674880

And Totti did all that after starting from the bench, a role which he has started to embrace since Luciano Spalletti took the reins in January.

Initially. Totti criticised Spalletti for not giving him enough game time and he was punished by being dropped for a match against Palermo, a decision which was met with a lot of vitriol from fans and also caused retirement rumours to reemerge.

However, since then Totti has been embracing his new role as the super substitute, and one look at his statistics will show why.

Francesco Totti's last 162 minutes of Serie A action:

7 shots on target
5 goals
1 assist

Always the saviour. pic.twitter.com/f2sSHFrvBA

— Squawka (@Squawka) September 11, 2016

The yard or two of pace may be lost, but that class will never go.

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