<p>Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Francesco Totti have little in common other than their game and their fame. Ibrahimovic, born to Bosnian and Croatian immigrants to Sweden, is about to depart Paris St-Germain — his seventh club in a career that has spanned five countries. He is 34, speaks the language of every place he has played and seeks one last challenge in any land that can match his great expectations.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Totti, born in Rome, has never left. He has only played for his beloved AS Roma, but he has seen 16 different coaches try to build a team around him since 1992. Now he fights against the dying of his light, and despite turning 40 in September, there is still only one team he wants to play for.<br /><br />Zlatan, the frequent flier, and Totti, the home-alone Roman, are obviously gifted men. They play a team game but in an extravagantly individualistic way.<br /><br />Earlier this month, when Roma was battling to qualify for a Champions League berth in Italy’s Serie A and Totti was left on the bench, fans of the team paid for a full-page ad in the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.<br /><br />“The King of Rome Will Never Die,” was its message.<br /><br />Last weekend, before his last game for PSG at its Parc des Princes stadium, Ibrahimovic wrote his own farewell. “I came like a king, left like a legend,” he posted on Twitter.<br /><br />If you are that boastful, you need to be better than good. Both men have been.Totti has represented Roma in 758 games, during which he has scored 304 goals and contributed 190 assists.<br /><br />With seven clubs (Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG), Ibrahimovic has scored 390 goals in 767 appearances.<br /><br />It is the way that they played that has elevated them above the others on the field. It is impossible to catalog the number of times that Totti has lifted Rome, and for that matter Italy, with a subtle, artful, improvised pass or shot.<br /><br />And if one had to choose a single strike that personified Ibrahimovic, it would be his goal for Sweden in November 2012.<br /><br />England’s goalkeeper, Joe Hart, had rushed out of his penalty area to head the ball away. He got decent height on his clearance, or thought that he had.<br /><br />The ball spiralled high into the air, but Ibrahimovic, facing away from the goal, leapt toward it. With a fully extended right leg, Ibrahimovic scissors-kicked it back over his own head, over Hart and into the net, just inches beneath the crossbar, from 26 yards away. Such reach, such dexterous mobility for someone who is 6-foot-5, such measured yet audacious power of improvisation.<br /><br />A king and a legend, indeed.<br /><br />The numbers tell you that both players, in their very different career paths, have justified the sometimes outrageous estimations of their worth.<br /><br />As Ibrahimovic played his last game for Paris in the French Cup final against Marseille on Saturday, it still wasn’t certain what he, or the French soccer federation, intended to do to remember him.<br /><br />Last Saturday, during PSG's final league game against Nantes, he wrote his own script, while French soccer conspired with him to twice break the rules of the game.<br /><br />In the 10th minute, to coincide with the No 10 he wears, the referee halted the game to allow 40,000 fans, many of them wearing Ibrahimovic masks, to applaud.The Nantes players looked bewildered. By then, Ibrahimovic had scored the first goal. By the 89th minute, when he was substituted to allow for another moment of homage, he had scored again. And once more in a disregard of the rules, Ibrahimovic’s two sons, Maximilian, 9, and Vincent, 8, came onto the field.<br /><br />One wore a PSG shirt bearing the word “King.” The other had “Legend” on it. The game wasn’t over, but the pageantry was in full swing.<br /><br />Ibrahimovic, by the way, surpassed the PSG record for league goals in a season. His finally tally was 38 goals, eclipsing the 37 set by Carlos Bianchi in 1977-78.<br /><br />France hasn’t seen the last of him because he will be back, leading Sweden in the Euro 2016 tournament next month. After that? Ibrahimovic says he knows, though his agent is telling reporters there are several options, and the speculation includes Manchester United and the Los Angeles Galaxy, with China or Qatar also in the mix.<br /><br />Totti, though, is looking down a single track. In the last seven games for Roma, he came on as a substitute. His body, a little bulkier around the waist as a man of his years might expect, cannot go the full 90 minutes. Yet late in the games, when the speed slows down, a little Totti magic can still be decisive.<br /><br />He scored four times and assisted on two other goals in those limited spells. And Roma finished in third place and qualified for the Champions League next season.So between Rome and Boston, where the club’s American owners do business, the haggling over an extension for one final Totti season continues. Reports suggest that a figure of around $1 million is on the table.<br /><br />Totti is mulling it over. His fans are divided, but many, led by the Rome radio host Mario Corsi, want him to keep playing until he drops. Totti’s wife, the television personality Ilary Blasi, asked him earlier in the year to retire, but that was before his recent flurry of goals.<br /><br />Saying sorry isn’t the hardest word; saying goodbye is.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Francesco Totti have little in common other than their game and their fame. Ibrahimovic, born to Bosnian and Croatian immigrants to Sweden, is about to depart Paris St-Germain — his seventh club in a career that has spanned five countries. He is 34, speaks the language of every place he has played and seeks one last challenge in any land that can match his great expectations.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Totti, born in Rome, has never left. He has only played for his beloved AS Roma, but he has seen 16 different coaches try to build a team around him since 1992. Now he fights against the dying of his light, and despite turning 40 in September, there is still only one team he wants to play for.<br /><br />Zlatan, the frequent flier, and Totti, the home-alone Roman, are obviously gifted men. They play a team game but in an extravagantly individualistic way.<br /><br />Earlier this month, when Roma was battling to qualify for a Champions League berth in Italy’s Serie A and Totti was left on the bench, fans of the team paid for a full-page ad in the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.<br /><br />“The King of Rome Will Never Die,” was its message.<br /><br />Last weekend, before his last game for PSG at its Parc des Princes stadium, Ibrahimovic wrote his own farewell. “I came like a king, left like a legend,” he posted on Twitter.<br /><br />If you are that boastful, you need to be better than good. Both men have been.Totti has represented Roma in 758 games, during which he has scored 304 goals and contributed 190 assists.<br /><br />With seven clubs (Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG), Ibrahimovic has scored 390 goals in 767 appearances.<br /><br />It is the way that they played that has elevated them above the others on the field. It is impossible to catalog the number of times that Totti has lifted Rome, and for that matter Italy, with a subtle, artful, improvised pass or shot.<br /><br />And if one had to choose a single strike that personified Ibrahimovic, it would be his goal for Sweden in November 2012.<br /><br />England’s goalkeeper, Joe Hart, had rushed out of his penalty area to head the ball away. He got decent height on his clearance, or thought that he had.<br /><br />The ball spiralled high into the air, but Ibrahimovic, facing away from the goal, leapt toward it. With a fully extended right leg, Ibrahimovic scissors-kicked it back over his own head, over Hart and into the net, just inches beneath the crossbar, from 26 yards away. Such reach, such dexterous mobility for someone who is 6-foot-5, such measured yet audacious power of improvisation.<br /><br />A king and a legend, indeed.<br /><br />The numbers tell you that both players, in their very different career paths, have justified the sometimes outrageous estimations of their worth.<br /><br />As Ibrahimovic played his last game for Paris in the French Cup final against Marseille on Saturday, it still wasn’t certain what he, or the French soccer federation, intended to do to remember him.<br /><br />Last Saturday, during PSG's final league game against Nantes, he wrote his own script, while French soccer conspired with him to twice break the rules of the game.<br /><br />In the 10th minute, to coincide with the No 10 he wears, the referee halted the game to allow 40,000 fans, many of them wearing Ibrahimovic masks, to applaud.The Nantes players looked bewildered. By then, Ibrahimovic had scored the first goal. By the 89th minute, when he was substituted to allow for another moment of homage, he had scored again. And once more in a disregard of the rules, Ibrahimovic’s two sons, Maximilian, 9, and Vincent, 8, came onto the field.<br /><br />One wore a PSG shirt bearing the word “King.” The other had “Legend” on it. The game wasn’t over, but the pageantry was in full swing.<br /><br />Ibrahimovic, by the way, surpassed the PSG record for league goals in a season. His finally tally was 38 goals, eclipsing the 37 set by Carlos Bianchi in 1977-78.<br /><br />France hasn’t seen the last of him because he will be back, leading Sweden in the Euro 2016 tournament next month. After that? Ibrahimovic says he knows, though his agent is telling reporters there are several options, and the speculation includes Manchester United and the Los Angeles Galaxy, with China or Qatar also in the mix.<br /><br />Totti, though, is looking down a single track. In the last seven games for Roma, he came on as a substitute. His body, a little bulkier around the waist as a man of his years might expect, cannot go the full 90 minutes. Yet late in the games, when the speed slows down, a little Totti magic can still be decisive.<br /><br />He scored four times and assisted on two other goals in those limited spells. And Roma finished in third place and qualified for the Champions League next season.So between Rome and Boston, where the club’s American owners do business, the haggling over an extension for one final Totti season continues. Reports suggest that a figure of around $1 million is on the table.<br /><br />Totti is mulling it over. His fans are divided, but many, led by the Rome radio host Mario Corsi, want him to keep playing until he drops. Totti’s wife, the television personality Ilary Blasi, asked him earlier in the year to retire, but that was before his recent flurry of goals.<br /><br />Saying sorry isn’t the hardest word; saying goodbye is.<br /><br /></p>