Full Name
Gabriel Omar Batistuta
Position
Striker
Born
01 February 1969
Country
Argentina
Clubs
Newell’s Old Boys (Argentina)
River Plate (Argentina)
Boca Juniors (Argentina)
Fiorentina (Italy)
Roma (Italy)
Al Arabi (Qatar)
Professional Career
1988-2005
International Caps/Goals
77 caps/54 goals
Honours
1 Argentine league title (River Plate)
1 Serie A Scudetto, 1 Italian Super Cup (Roma)
1 Serie B title, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Italian Super Cup (Fiorentina)
1991/1993 Copa America (Argentina)
1992 Confederation Cup (Argentina)
The Fiorentina fans loved “Batigol” so much that they erected a statue of him in Florence in 1996. Despite Fiorentina’s relegation to Serie B in the 1992/93 season, Gabriel Batistuta stuck with the club and helped it promoted back to Serie A in the following season. Playing for nine seasons for Fiorentina, Batistuta’s biggest regret was perhaps the inability to win the Scudetto for his beloved team. Nevertheless, the pacy and lethal striker still scored an respectable 168 goals in 269 appearances, a ratio of one goal per 1.6 game, for Fiorentina.
Batistuta left Fiorentina reluctantly in 2000 in search of a Scudetto, and he finally realised his dream with Roma as they won the title in 2001 in Batistuta’s debut season. Batigol was best remembered for his refusal to celebrate when he scored against Fiorentina during one of the matches.
One of the best number 9 ever to play for Argentina, Batistuta was the all-time top scorer for the national team with 54 goals in 77 caps, until Lionel Messi overtook his record in 2016.
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