Francesco Totti insists he feels fitter at 40 than he did at 25 as the veteran striker bids to lead Roma to victory over Inter Milan in Serie A this weekend.
The one-club man - a Scudetto winner in 2001 - reached a major birthday milestone on Tuesday and subsequently laid on three assists for his Giallorossi team-mates in the 4-0 Europa League humbling of Astra Giurgiu.
Totti, who made his Roma debut as a 16-year-old in 1993, could score the first goal of his fifth decade when Inter visit the capital on Sunday night.
After playing the full match on Thursday, he told asroma.com: "I was joking with the physio during the first half that not even when I was 25 did I feel this good!
"I'm fit and I can handle 90 minutes pretty well.
"We have to concentrate on our own performances and the best way to respond to setbacks is always to play well and win. That's what the fans want and that's what the coach wants from us.
"We need to prove that we're a united group with a desire to succeed."
Psychologically Roma may have the upper hand heading into their top-four clash with Inter, who succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at Sparta Prague.
Striker Rodrigo Palacio told inter.it: "We played badly - they deserved the win.
"We have a big squad and we can compete on two fronts, but we must give more if we want to succeed in these competitions. We can't afford to make any more mistakes now - we have to win our next game."
Inter lead Roma by a single point before travelling to the Stadio Olimpico, while Napoli, the only unbeaten team in the table, are second ahead of their trip to Atalanta.
The Azzurri were 4-2 winners over Benfica in the Champions League this week while leaders Juventus thumped Dinamo Zagreb as a warm-up for their meeting with lowly Empoli in Tuscany.
Lazio will hope to pick up a positive result at Udinese that should see them enter the title race, with AC Milan also on 10 points before welcoming Sassuolo.
Chievo and Bologna, who play Pescara and Genoa respectively, are the early season surprise packages but both failed to win last time out.
Elsewhere, Cagliari entertain Crotone, Sampdoria host Palermo and mid-table Fiorentina will look to test England goalkeeper Joe Hart's skills at Torino.
Source: PA-WIRE
