He acted like a 'small man' - Totti's wife blasts Roma coach

Francesco Totti's, wife Ilary Blasi, has hit out at Luciano Spalletti over his treatment of the iconic Roma forward last season.


Spalletti dropped Totti from the Roma squad for the match against Palermo in February after the 39-year-old complained about a lack of respect in an interview with Rai.

The pair quickly patched up their differences and Totti scored his 250th Serie A goal in Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Torino

However, Blasi has taken aim at Spalletti, claiming his actions were wrong on a human level.

"I do not know anything about football, but the whole situation was surreal. It was like science fiction, I could not believe it. He was kicked out of his own house. You do not do something like this. But the fans did not abandon him," Totti's wife told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Footballing decisions are always debatable, but I will not talk about that. I do have something to say on a human level, though, about the person. I am not criticising sporting decisions, I am criticising human behaviour. Spalletti acted like a small man. That's the truth. Period.

"Francesco only asked for respect in the interview that caused all this and he was right. He was not being respected at the time. Francesco is not a controversial person.

"There is a way to behave when a guy is going through a difficult period. Spalletti could have treated him a bit more delicate. He did not know how to behave on a human level. I judge people on this, so he gets a very low rating there."

Totti is expected to either hang up his boots at the end of this season or leave Roma at the end of his contract in June 2017 and Blasi has made it clear she will happily follow her husband if he decides to leave the Stadio Olimpico for a foreign adventure.

"Francesco is edging closer to the end of an era. We are approaching the end of the line. Not just because the end of his career is near, if he does not retire this season it will be next term, but also because it is the start of a new life," she added.

"Will he retire in 2018? That is up to Francesco. He is an intelligent guy.

"If he decides to move abroad, I will follow him. It does not matter whether that means moving to the USA or to Arabia, because it will only be for a short period of time."