Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Francesco Totti: Watching Roma from stands as a director was tough

Roma legend Francesco Totti said it was "hard" to watch from the stands as he began his new life as a club director following retirement as a player.

Totti, 40, sat with sporting director Monchi and general manager Mauro Baldissoni as Roma won 1-0 at Atalanta on Sunday.

And writing on Facebook afterwards, the former striker said: "It was very hard to watch the match seated in the stands.

"Well done guys for this first result. It will be a year of struggle and strong emotions. Go Roma!"

New Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco praised his players for their resilience, saying: "I'd asked for my team to show character, and the players did that at a place where only few won last season.

"We need to improve how we play the ball around, especially when we are in front, but I could see the team's spirit of sacrifice and willingness to dig in for each other, and this is still a good sign for a coach."

An irritated Di Francesco broke his seat at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in the closing moments and explained: "I got angry because we were not controlling the ball well and we were giving our opponents the possibility to level.

"We can do much better, particularly technically, but today we were better defending than attacking, and from tomorrow we will look to get better in attack."

Midfielder Radja Nainggolan wrote on Instagram: "Great character... we suffered for this win at a difficult venue, but they all count. Great guys."

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