Seydou Keita on Francesco Totti denying captain's armband: 'It shows the respect is mutual'
A bizarre yet hilarious scene took place in the 77th minute of Roma's 1-0 win at Genoa on Sunday as Francesco Totti refused to take the captain's armband from Seydou Keita upon taking the pitch.
Nothing should have been made of the moment. It was fairly obvious that it was simply a classy move on Totti's behalf to let Keita continue as captain. But because the footballing world always needs some banter, rumours inevitably surfaced regarding a rift between the two players.
Keita took to Twitter on Monday to address those rumors, claiming: "My gesture to Totti is normal, and his insistence not to take it shows the respect is mutual," before adding the following:
In Italy people have enjoyed the two gestures do the same instead of making polemics and seeing problems where there are none. Easy
— Seydou keita (@skeitaofficiel) December 15, 2014
Nothing to see here, folks. Carry on.