Juventus Striker Del Piero: Totti And I Are Not Rivals

Posted Saturday, January 23, 2010 by Goal.com

One club legend pays tribute to another.

Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero has spoken about his respect for Roma talisman Francesco Totti.

Ahead of a busy weekend in Serie A which will see the two Calcio legends come face-to-face in Turin, Del Piero took the time to offer some kind words to the Roma captain.

“Above all on the eve of a match like this one, when on the other side, wearing a captain band on his arm, there’s a player like Francesco Totti. If we put together our goals scored, it's over 500. If we sum up the years of career, wearing the same shirt – it comes up to 35," Del Piero stated on his official website.

The 35-year-old went on to dismiss speculation that the two didn’t see eye-to-eye.

“Francesco and I were team-mates in the national team, and I want to stress, team-mates and not rivals.”

Finally, the Juve man stated that achieving World Cup success together in 2006 had forever united the two captains, but insisted there would be no love lost this Saturday when the two come head-to-head in a crunch game at the top of Serie A.

“We won the World Cup together and those memories unite us forever. But with our clubs, we were, we are and we will always be opponents.”