Roma´s Totti fit to face Sampdoria, says Spalletti

Roma´s Francesco Totti is seen here during an Italian Serie A match against Cagliari on December 5. Totti has been included in the Roma squad to face Sampdoria in a must-win match on December 22.

      ROME (AFP) - Francesco Totti has been included in the Roma squad to face Sampdoria in a must-win match on Saturday.

      Roma have drawn their last two matches, slipping to seven points behind leaders Inter Milan and are in desperate need of their captain and talisman.

      Totti has played just two matches since limping off injured aginst Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on October 23.

      He was a peripheral figure in the 1-1 draw at Livorno two weeks ago before also failing to shine against Manchester United 10 days ago.

      But he was still badly missed in last weekend's lucky 0-0 draw at Torino, where Roma were out-played from first minute to last.

      Also included for the crunch game are French forward Ludovic Giuly and David Pizarro but French defender Philippe Mexes (suspended) and midfielders Alberto Aquilani and Rodrigo Taddei are all out of the match.

      "Aquilani is not ready yet but Totti has trained normally and kicked some balls and he is ready to play," said coach Luciano Spalletti.

      Despite the seven-point gap to the champions, Spalletti remains defiant about his team's title chances.

      "It's still too soon to say the title race is over," he insisted. "We had two or three games where we didn't play to our best but it's a bit much to start talking about crises."