Valentino Rossi and Francesco
Totti established themselves as two of Italy's best-loved and
most talented sportsmen early in their respective careers.
Totti made his debut for his hometown club AS Roma aged
just 16 in 1993.
Rossi was a year older when he made his Grand Prix debut
and was still in his teens when he won his first motorcycling
world title - in the 125cc class in 1997.
Rossi went on to collect eight more world titles,
including seven in the premium class, while Totti helped Roma
win the 2001 Serie A crown and was part of Italy's 2006 World
Cup-winning team.
But where the pair once hit the headlines for their
precocious feats, they are now winning plaudits for their
staying power.
Totti, who recently turned 38, became the oldest player
ever to score in the Champions League when he tucked away Roma's
equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Manchester City last month.
He also scored a penalty to help Roma beat Chievo Verona
3-0 on Saturday to close the gap on leaders Juventus to one
point and consolidate his place as Serie A's second top scorer
of all time with his 237th top-flight goal.
His goals are just a fraction of his contribution for
Roma, who are challenging to end Juve's three-year dominance in
Serie A.
He is also the team's main source of creativity and his
touches set up chances for the team's other younger forwards,
such as Gervinho, Mattia Destro and new signing Juan Iturbe.
Rossi, meanwhile, again showed he is still capable of
winning, over 18 years after his first grand-prix triumph, when
he picked up his second MotoGP victory of the season in
Australia on Sunday.
The 35-year-old has no chance of collecting his 10th world
title this season as Spain's Marc Marquez already has the
championship in the bag with two races to go.
But the win tightened his grip on second place with 255
points, eight ahead of his Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo.
Not bad for a man who looked past his best after two
winless seasons at Ducati in 2011 and 2012 and last year's
unspectacular return to Yamaha, with whom he had won five of his
premium class world titles between 2004 and 2010.
Rossi admitted after the victory at Phillip Island on
Sunday that he was having doubts himself.
"Just think that last year I didn't know if I was still
able to go fast and win," he said.
Rossi is a resurgent force this season after changing his
diet-and-fitness campaign and bringing in Silvano Galbusera as
his crew chief after ending his long relationship with Jeremy
Burgess.
Rossi is second in motorcycling's all-time race-win
standings with 108 victories, behind his compatriot Giacomo
Agostini, who won 122 grands prix in various classes in the
1960s and 70s.
In July he extended his contract with Yamaha by two years
until 2016.
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