Batistuta: Argentina's finest
Gabriel Batistuta's skills are as angelic as his name. But the one thing he is not religious about is football
Date: May 2000
By: Marcela Mora y Araujo
Source: FourFourTwo Magazine
Photos by: Stuart Freedman
Scanned by: Katy Ord
FourFourTwo met Batistuta on the eve of the friendly between England and Argentina at Wembley. A pointless friendly, perhaps? "What can I tell you? The thing that makes me happy is to be able to play in one of these matches because it's a classic derby on a world scale. A lot of people are looking out to see what happens, regardless of whether it's a friendly or not. The thinks is, it's very different to play every Sunday anyway than it is to be involved in international friendly. In a football player's career, over a decade say, if you play 100 games for your country, 60 are likely to be friendlies. And it's always nice to play for your national squad, friendly or not, because you have a whole country backing you. Aside from the football game, it's fun because often you meet up with players you haven't seen for a while, catch on the gossip and so on."
And, of course, international football has given Batistuta the worldwide status that playing for Fiorentina has not. Since making his international debut in 1991 he has become the country's top international scorer, with 48 in 65 games to date, including nine in two World Cup (1994 and 1998). "Batigol is permanently fossiles in the heart of Argentines who vibrated with his goals," said one local journalist.
Everything about Batistuta speaks of a centre-forward in the classical tradition. It's not just the goals; it's not jut the physical presence; it's not just the striking looks. It's the sense that he will do what it takes to succeed, but that he does not need to do more. He is strong, fast and skillful, but sometimes neglects that skill - he is such a good finisher he rarely needs to bring his trickery to bear to create a better chance.
He scores goals. That's what he does and it's all the feels the need to do. He is not an architect, not a creator: he sees opportunities, calculates possibilities and acts if he thinks it is worth his while. This single mindedness (and the proven efficacy of his approach) mean he is often the focus of the opposition's attempts to silence his team.
For that reason he has always been compared to Ronaldo. His ex-coach at Fiorentina, Claudio Ranieri, has said of him: "I know Batistuta very well, I managed him, and I would say he is a better player than Ronaldo. He has shown as much over the years he has been in Italian football."
Batistuta claims he is a team player and refuses to accept stardom willingly. He has remarked that he neither felt the least important member of the squad when he was a novice under the managerial hand of Alfio Basile, nor the most important member of Daniel Passarella's 1998 World Cup squad (Passarella's compulsory haircut regime even applied to Batistuta).
That's not to say he is not aware of the power of the Batistuta brand, and, more so, of the power of Ronaldo brand. Before the last World Cup he said: "They use Ronaldo and me to attract more people to France. But it's clear that the World Cup image is Ronaldo, not me."
Is there any quality of Ronaldo's he would like? "Yes, his age."
Despite the romantic figure he cuts (go on, he's like a buccaneer), Batistuta is no dreamer or self-obsessive. "I never waste time thinking over the goals I have scored or the records I have set," he says. "What's important for me is the next goal I score, the next record. I always want to improve." One magazine last year asked Batistuta if he didn't really cover the records he has set. The reply was curt: "Records only serve one purpose - to get up your critics' noses."
This seems to encapsulate Batistuta's attitude of football. It is not so much that he disrespects the game, more that he is certain that it is only a game, or only a job. Of Wembley he shrugs and says, "I've played here before, and I've scored here before. It's not the vacant lot next door, but it doesn't make any difference." Of facing English adversaries he says, "I don't fear anyone. It's nice to play against good players, even if the risk of losing is higher."
Then comes the admission one does not expect. "Let me be clear on something. I don't watch football. I don't watch Premier league or the Italian championship because the only thing I do is play football. I am not in the slightest bit interested in watching games or following commentaries or anything like that. In this sense I am quite ignorant and I really wouldn't know what to say to you. Everyone is now talking of this guy Beckham, for example, asking me about him. I am sure he is very well-known. But if you want me to discuss his technical qualities, I don't know... I'm at risk of saying something really stupid here because I genuinely don't have the slightest idea. I don't follow football."
Unlike Beckham, he takes admirably laissez-faire attitude to crowds, too. After the match I ask him if the chants of "Same old Argies, always cheating" disturbed him.
"I am not interested in understanding, he replies. "It's a given that they are not cheering in my favour, so it's not a problem I set myself. I've been playing football for a long time so I am indifferent to it by now. And anyway, I've got used to it because in Italy I am the most representative man in Fiorentina's squad so in order to attack Fiorentina they attack me. I'm used to it. There are many ways in which to react. Personally, it usually motivates me to shut them up and the best way to do that is to play well. Ninety-nine percent of the time they are attacking you but not on a personal level - it's in order to cheer their own team. Anyhow, luckily I have a lot of self-control so it's not difficult for me not to react."
I am suddenly reminded of Diego Maradona's summing of Batistuta's performance at France 98. Maradona said: "He's scored hundreds of goals the world over and never put his foot down (to Passarella). Passarella humiliated him in every which way and Bati... nothing. I'd like to sit Gabriel down for a chat some day: 'React brother! Throw your boots at him when he takes you off against England!' But as Batistuta says, self-control is not a problem for him