April 8th, 99

This interview took place on March 29 or March 30, 1999 and was broadcasted on Dutch television on Sunday April 4, '99

Translation by Jojan

PK = Peter Kuiper (interviewer)
GB = Gabriel Batistuta

PK: "Which qualities does a top player need to play in the Serie A?"
GB: "You need to play soccer very well. Apart from that you need to have character and you need to be level-headed. The Serie A is a serious business. Sometimes you are "great", sometimes you are "bad". So you have to stand firm.

PK: "Kluivert en Bergkamp had many problems in Italy."
GB: [Thinks a moment, then answers] "They came to big clubs, that immediately wanted success. Those clubs were too impatient. It is risky to go to such a club."

PK: "Did they come at the wrong moment?"
GB: "I don't know. The Serie A is very hard. The management rarely has patience. I don't know what their situations were about, so I cannot say anything about that. But it was obvious they were having a hard time."

PK: "Is that the advantage of Fiorentina? No pressure?"
GB: "In Florence there is always pressure as well. There has to be won, because they have not won any price yet. So there it is difficult as well."

PK: "How many ways are there to celebrate a goal?"
GB: [Smiling broadly] "Very many ways." "Anyone has to do what he feels at that moment. It depends on the moment. At a birth, or if someone has just dealt with something or if he wants to draw attention to something."

PK: "There is the baby, but also the gun."
GB: [Smiling broadly] "Yes, the machine gun."

PK: "Why?"
GB: [Laughing] "To shoot down the goal keepers."

PK: "There is also the hand behind the ear."
GB: "Yes, that one also."

PK: "What does it mean?"
GB: [Laughing] "It means the audience is quiet."

PK: "There is also the finger at the mouth."
GB: "There are so many ways." "Like the audience makes a fool out of players, we can fool the opponent's audience. But always sportsmanlike."

PK: "Your gesture is that with the corner flag. There was a statue made of it."
GB: "That was my first way of celebrating a goal. Everyone recalls that. But there never was a particular reason for it."

PK: "Has the battle for the scudetto ended yet?"
GB: "No, I don't think so. We still have nine matches to go. Anything can happen. We shall have to accept the battle and then we will see what happens."

PK: "When you were injured, Fiorentina often lost."
GB: "Two matches lost, one draw, and even one was won... but it could have been a coincidence."

PK: "But when you were not there, things went worse with the team."
GB: "Because the selection has no other player with my characteristic qualities. Only different players. That became obvious, but it remains a great team anyway."

PK: "Aren't you afraid the team depends on you?"
GB: [Laughing] "Then I hope I won't get injured again."

PK: "Let's hope so."
GB: [Laughing] "Let's hope so."

PK: "How exactly did you get injured?
GB: "I had gotten injured previously in the match, when I clashed with Bierhoff. In addition to that I got a muscular injury at my knee. It could have happened to anyone."

PK: "You recovered quickly."
GB: "Yes. I trained very hard and my knee reacted positively to that."

PK: "You have played with Fiorentina since 1991."
GB: "Yes."

PK: "Why?"
GB: [Laughing] "Because that is how they want it." "And because I enjoy myself in Florence very much. I want to end my career there."

PK: "You could also play with Barcelona or Madrid."
GB: "Yes, I could. I would consider that a great honor. Everyone says so, but I like it in Florence."

PK: "But you would want to play in the Champions League, wouldn't you?"
GB: [Smiling] "Fiorentina will already be playing in the Champions League next year."

PK: "As the champion?"
GB: "Probably. No one knows".

PK: "How many goals have you scored in your career? Do you know?"
GB: "No, I don't know." [Smiling] "But they are many."

PK: "And the most beautiful?"
GB: "They are all equally beautiful. Even the ones I scored with a lot of luck."