When Francesco Totti and Carlos Bianchi clashed at Roma

Most football fans know that Francesco Totti is the greatest AS Roma player of all time and one of the greatest footballers that Italy has ever produced. The talented and silky attacking midfielder has become synonymous with the club and has become a symbol of loyalty when it comes to one-club men, which is something that makes his journey with this institution even more special.

Francesco Totti after scoring one of his goals for Roma

However, back in the summer of 1996, things were very different. Argentinian manager Carlos Bianchi arrived with a significant CV after having won pretty much every trophy available with Vélez Sarsfield in his home country and on the international stage. His arrival was meant to push the Italian club to the next level, but he struggled massively, and that included multiple clashes with Totti, which almost led to the latter's sale to Sampdoria.

Bianchi and his arrival

Carlos Bianchi was an Argentinian striker who thrived in the 70s in French football, eventually becoming Paris Saint-Germain's highest goal scorer for decades. He started coaching in 1985 at the Reims club, the same team he retired with, and later on had tenures with Nice and Paris FC, although he didn't amount too much.

By December 1992, he returned to his home country of Argentina and became the manager of Vélez Sarsfield, leading to the greatest era of the club's history. This period of his tenure had Bianchi winning two Torneos Clausura, one Torneo Apertura, one Copa Libertadores, one Copa Interamericana, and one Intercontinental Cup, with the latter being won in 1994 against Fabio Capello's AC Milan. Furthermore, he also won the South American Coach of the Year in 1994.

Therefore, he arrived at AS Roma with a significant CV since he proved that he could punch above his weight and could add a project to elevate the team. However, his time at the Italian capital would be a considerable failure, having a record of 9 victories, 9 draws, and 8 losses, but the biggest problem would be his relationship with Francesco Totti.

The issues with Totti

Back in 1996, Francesco Totti wasn't the symbol of the club yet, but he was a talented youngster who had a lot of promises. However, Bianchi didn't think much of him and wanted other players in his position, with the Argentinian eventually mentioning Jari Litmanen, the Finnish attacking midfielder who won the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League with Ajax and widely regarded as one of the best of his generation.

In Totti's 2018 book, Un Capitano, he had this to say about Bianchi's arrival and what this meant for the squad:

"Bianchi is an Argentine who, after a long-playing career in his homeland and in France, has won everything there is to win as Vélez's coach. He arrives to replace a Roman coach considered too lenient with the players, and from the outset it is very clear that he harbors many prejudices against the Romans on the team. I think he asked for a series of 'his' players, chosen by him, and that the club promised them to him on a medium-term basis, because they first wanted to see that Bianchi's abilities could also make a difference in Europe."

"The players didn't like some of the customs that Bianchi brings to Trigoria, such as the matches between Romans against the rest of the world, in which his antipathy toward us comes to the surface. He openly supports the others and is amused when we are defeated. It doesn't take long for me to realize that he has a particular grudge against me because he considers me lazy. There's no way to change his mind, not even by working three times as hard."

Since Totti's form had a lot of ups and downs at the time, there was even a point where he was booed by the Roma faithful. When considering this combination of events, the rumors of Sampdoria became a lot more notorious and there was a very good chance that he was going to be either loaned or sold during the winter transfer window.

"He wanted me to be loaned to Sampdoria, and if I had left, I wouldn't have returned to this club, which is my home and my life," Totti said in 2016. "That man didn't allow me to live the dream I wanted."

The chain of events and the aftermath

However, Roma would play a series of friendly matches in February of 1997 against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Ajax in the Città di Roma competition, with Totti being available because the Italy Under-20s squad didn't travel to England for a match. Therefore, he could play with the reserves since Bianchi didn't view him as part of the first team.

The Italian youngster would end up having a notorious performance and would endear himself to the fans once again, with club president Franco Sensi rejecting any possibility of selling him. Furthermore, as things began to become complicated for Bianchi at the helm, he made it clear to Sensi that it was either him or Totti, and the president chose the latter, thus promptly firing the manager.

As seen previously, Totti has been quite scathing in his view of Bianchi. Meanwhile, in 2001, when coaching Boca Juniors in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Bianchi said "Totti is a good player, but the truly outstanding players are Shevchenko and Trezeguet, who score goals in almost every game".

All in all, this period in Roma's history would end up being a footnote for both protagonists. Bianchi would enjoy his greatest period of success as a coach with Boca Juniors after leaving the Italian capital and Totti's time with Roma is one of the greatest one-club men runs in the history of the sport.