Italy prepare life without Totti Wednesday 16 June, 2004
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Francesco Totti faces a UEFA tribunal tomorrow, but Giovanni Trapattoni is already testing ways to survive without him.
“Totti certainly isn’t happy to be in this situation,” noted FIGC Vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini, “but he is nonetheless relaxed. We have great respect for UEFA and will abide by any decision they make while doing everything we can to represent our player.”
The Roma captain has disgusted the continent as television footage emerged of him spitting at Danish player Christian Poulsen. The images clearly show he was looking at the opponent and too close for the gesture to have been an accident.
“He was quite surprised and claimed he had no memory of the incident,” insisted Mazzini. “In any case, there are many great players in this squad and nobody is irreplaceable.”
This last statement is an important one, as it shows that Italy are prepared for the likely two to three match ban for their most representative player. He will give his testimony in front of a UEFA tribunal tomorrow morning at 10am.
There are even suggestions that the Azzurri should send Totti home if UEFA inflict a heavy punishment, but Mazzini refused to reveal any contingency plans. “You can’t make a scenario without facts at hand.”
UEFA will make their decision on Thursday, but they could come down hard on Totti after Poulsen’s testimony.
“Totti spat at me several times throughout the match,” said the Dane in an official statement released by his FA.
Now Giovanni Trapattoni is forced to find a new set-up that can survive without his star player and there were already experiments on Wednesday afternoon.
The Coach fielded Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Cristiano Zanetti in midfield, with Alessandro Del Piero supporting front two Christian Vieri and Antonio Cassano.
Vieri limped off with a knee problem, but the medical staff hinted that it was nothing to be concerned about.
Trap had always maintained that the balance of the side could not sustain both these creative players, but with the Roma man out of the picture it might be Pirlo’s big chance.
“Andrea is a great player,” Trapattoni had claimed, “but the Italy squad is build along certain structures and with him there the tactical set-up would have to change. I can’t just abandon everything we’ve done and adopt a new system from one day to the next.”
Totti’s thuggish behaviour could well have forced Trapattoni’s hand and opened the door for the Scudetto winning midfielder.
calcioitalia.co.uk (channel4.com/sport/football_italia)
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