Batistuta: The Person
Champions League Magazine
April/May, 2000
What interests do you have outside football?
What is the craziest thing anyone has ever asked you?
Is it true you never watch yourself on TV?
Is it also true you get very angry and don't watch any big games on the TV?
You're a private person, so how important is your family to you?
Do you want more children?
Do you go out much or do you tend to stay at home?
Are you wise with your money?
I love hunting and fishing but I lead a relatively normal life at home. I love films - my favourite is the Jack Nicholson movie 'As Good As It Gets'. Music I'm pretty open about and will listen to just about anything. I do like Bruce Springsteen when Fiorentina recently went to New York I went to his concert and met him. He didn't have a clue who I was. I don't think he's into football. Oh, and I do like Phil Collins as well. In terms of sport beyond football, people tell me I'm a very good tennis player. But I don't take it seriously, I just enjoy the sport for leisure, not in a competitive way.
Some of the fans requests are far too naughty to print. Let's just say I have had some very strange offers in my time, offers you probably wouldn't believe even if I told you. In a football sense I guess Daniel Passarella, the former Argentine coach, takes the cake. We fell out about all things, my hair included. He wanted me to cut it and look the part but I refused. In turn he kicked me out of the national team and it caused outrage back home. But I've always been a man of principal and I'm not going to change now. I don't think anyone has a right to tell me what I should look like. My wife doesn't complain, and she's the only one I would cut my hair for.
It's a bit of a superstition really. When I'm with my club and with the national team I have to sit through videos of the opposition and I can deal with that. But I never watch myself in action. I don't feel the need to be motivated by analysing my game on TV. Quite the opposite really. I work hard in training and I like to eliminate mistakes that way. I find this side of football strange. I know players who end up tearing their hair out watching and trying to duplicate someone else's game.
My wife Irina doesn't like football anyway. She will come and watch me, but we don't take it home with us. I hate watching football on TV, it's true. Especially those big European games. I think that, instead of sitting on the sofa watching, I could be playing, so I get very angry and turn the TV off. I've never been one to watch games. I live for playing, that is the only way to enjoy football.
Very. They are everything. My wife Irina and I have three boys, Thiago, Lucas and Joaquin. Thiago is seven and he loves the game. We have epic encounters on the terrace of our home. He tends to close his eyes and just kick the ball. Lucas tends to be uninterested in football, he likes his food more. He eats for Europe, but he runs around like crazy trying to burn off his energy, Irina says he's an earthquake ready to happen. Joaquin is the youngest and he causes the sleepless nights in the house. He's too young to know what it's all about.
I'd love a girl at some stage. But I don't think Irina wants to go through child birth again. She loves boys and says I should be happy with what God has given me. I do have a name for my girl though. I would like to call her Selene, it's such a pretty name. But if Irina did change her mind about having more children, my heart says it will be another boy.
I don't tend to venture into Florence much, it would be too heavy. There have been times when I've gone out in disguise, put my hair up, worn some dark glasses. But someone always finds you out. In Italy they don't do it quietly either. One time a man recognised me and ran up the whole street pointing me out. I had to run for my life, it was like something out of a crazy film with hundreds of people chasing me down a street. I had to be rescued by the police and sign loads of autographs for protection.
I'm very careful. I'm not a lavish person. I like nice clothes and so on, but most of my money is invested back home in Argentina. My father Osmar Batistuta and my mother Gloria manage most of my investment in Argentina. I own quite a bit of land, cattle and sheep. That's why, one day, I will go back there