Abu Dhabi: There was no lack of ‘playing time’ for Francesco Totti, the AS Roma icon, wheb the Serie A outfit turned out for their friendly against Egypt’s Al Ahly at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.

The celebrated Roma star has had a tense relationship with coach Luciano Spalletti in recent times. However, Spalletti, who has been accused by Totti of relegating him to the bench, put the playmaker in the starting line-up and allowed him to stay on the pitch for the full match, which finished 4-3 in the Egyptian club’s favour.

In his pre-match press conference, Spalletti had insisted that his relationship with Totti was “perfect” and that the longserving veteran was still an integral part in his scheme of things and the reassurance seemed to have worked.

The latest news coming from the Roma camp is that Totti, who has spent his entire professional career with the Giallorossi and scored a club record of 304 goals since making his debut at the age of 16, will sign a new contract and stay with the club for a 24th season.

Roma general manager Mauro Baldissoni revealed that Totti is set to sign a new contract, saying the forward “will continue to play” for the club.

The 39-year-old’s current deal expires in the summer and Roma president James Pallotta last week confirmed fresh terms. With Totti showing that he was in no hurry to put pen to paper, it was clear that the old warhorse needed an assurance that he will not just be used in short spells.

“Francesco is untouchable. He’s a legend and when you’re a legend, you go down in folklore, where the divide between reality and imagination is lost,” Baldissoni told Roma TV.

“Totti goes beyond all that and he’s a universally recognised symbol not just of Roma but of football as a whole. As you all know, we want to keep him as part of the Roma family for a long time.”

Totti, who has scored four goals in his last six outings coming off the bench, showed his class almost instantaneously. For a man nearly at the twilight of his career, he wowed the crowd with a mesmerising long ball for striker Edin Dzeko, who made it count for the equaliser.

Al Ahly coach Martin Jol felt that rubbing shoulders with the likes of Totti would have done a world of good for the confidence of his team and the result showed that it had indeed brought out the best from them.

“It was a great opportunity for the boys and they made the most. I managed to play a good number of players. The challenge was not easy as Roma is very sound from defence to attack. To get a positive result against a star-studded side comprising of Totti will help the boys in the long run,” said Jol, who also was thrilled to see a packed stadium.

“We don’t get to witness so much crowd back home because of the security concerns there. It is a different feeling of playing in front of such a crowd and everyone would have enjoyed,” added Jol.

The injury-time loss in the absorbing contest, however, seemed to have not gone well with Spalletti and he chose to give the post-match press conference a skip.