Roma’s historic captain revealed it in an interview with Bein Sports in Doha: he came close to accepting the offer from the Spanish club, but chose to stay with his hometown team forever.
“I came close to accepting Real Madrid’s offer, but I made an important decision in my life by staying in Rome for my entire career. If I had decided to leave, I would have gone abroad and joined Real Madrid out of respect for the fans”.
Today, as a Roma executive, he has no doubts: “I think I made the right decision”. And the numbers back him up: 307 goals and 786 matches in the giallorossa shirt, football history.