Ba-Ba in All Places
Date: June 23rd, 1998
This is excerpt from an article: "Amigos" (Friends)
This is from a larger article about the different friendships within the Argentina National Team at the 1998 World Cup
"Ba-Ba in All Places"
En L'Etrat are a pair who, besides possessing the same goal-scoring arsenal, have their own history. The friendship between Batistuta and Balbo is one of the most powerful on the team. Today, they are inseparable friends, both strikers, who met in the reserves of Newell's Old Boys. Bati was in the fourth special, which was coached by Bielsa, when Abel already was in the first division.
Bati: "Abel would come to drink Mate with us. [Mate is a favorite drink in Argentina] Abel was a star goal scorer with Newell's and I was not even ready to debut. He was three years older, but immediately a good feeling was born between us. He was already my idea of a model football player."
Balbo also remembers those times, although with some differences.
Balbo: "I think that I played together with Gabriel a few games in the reserves of Newell's. It could have been in '87. Afterwards, we never played together again, except on the national team."
The friendship became more profound in Italy. Both of them keep a low profile. Able is more serene and thoughtful, while Bati is more temperamental. "Abel is my best friend," says Bati. This is certainly true. Even to the point where Balbo became a kind of counselor to Batigol when he became so depressed because Passarella would not call him to the national team. It was Balbo who stopped Bati from any thought of quitting the team. That today Batistuta is one of the stars of the World Cup is due, in no small part, to the prudent and appropriate words of Balbo.
By: Miguel Rubio
Source: El Grafico
Translated by: Humbird