When The Lion King Ruled Calcio: Gabriel Batistuta’s Top 10 Goals
By Dan Cancian
There are great goalscorers, there are scorers of great goals and then there are those who seamlessly combine the two.
Exponents of such fine arts were two a penny in Italy throughout the 1990s, from Marco Van Basten to Ronaldo and Roberto Baggio, from Christian Vieri and Giuseppe Signori to Hernan Crespo.
But few, if any, stayed the course like Gabriel Batistuta, who celebrates his 56th birthday on February 1.
The Argentine arrived at Fiorentina in the summer of 1991 from Boca Juniors and hit double figures in the league in each of the next 10 seasons. By the time he left Italy in 2003, Batigol had scored 183 goals in 318 Serie A appearances for Fiorentina, Roma and Inter Milan.
His record with La Viola stands at 203 goals in 331 appearances in all competitions, astonishing figures coming at a time when Serie A was by some distance the best league in the world.
An icon in Florence, Batistuta’s long, stringy mane made him look part lion and part frontman of a 1980s glam rock band. And for a decade, The Lion King, as he was nicknamed by Fiorentina fans, dominated the jungle that was Serie A in the 1990s.
Here, Destination Calcio takes a walk down memory lane to examine Batigol’s 10 greatest strikes during his time in Italy.
10) Fiorentina vs Vicenza – January 28, 1996
Between November 1995 and March 1996, Fiorentina went on a 15-match unbeaten run in which Batistuta scored 12 times.
His 10th goal came in January against Vicenza in a 1-1 draw at home. With the game barely seven minutes old, Manuel Rui Costa wins the ball up the field and cuts inside, before feeding Batistuta’s strike partner Francesco Baiano, who has his back towards the goal.
A clever footballer whose link-up play was routinely underrated throughout his career, Baiano immediately lays off the ball towards Giovanni Piacentini. The latter, standing just outside the centre circle in Vicenza’s half, takes a touch before playing the ball into Batistuta’s feet, with the Argentine coming deeper to receive the pass.
For all his spectacular finishes, Batistuta’s reading of the game was second to none. In this instance, by moving away from goal, he buys himself enough space to control the ball by letting it roll over the inside of his right foot and open up his body.
What follows is vintage Batigol, as a 30-yard rocket explodes off his foot, before keeping low and swerving past Vicenza keeper Luca Mondini.
Batistuta scored 19 league goals in his fifth season in Florence, helping Fiorentina to a joint-third place finish in Serie A. More importantly, La Viola picked up their first piece of silverware in 21 years as they beat Atalanta 3-0 on aggregate in the Coppa Italia final.
Batigol, of course, was on the scoresheet in both legs.
9) Inter Milan vs Fiorentina – February 28, 1996
There was far more to Batistuta’s arsenal of finishes than thunderous strikes, as Inter Milan found out for themselves in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.
Leading 3-1 from the first leg courtesy of a Batigol hat-trick, Fiorentina arrived at San Siro with one foot in the final and it fell to their talismanic striker to cement their place in the showdown against Atalanta.
Francesco Baiano breaks on the counter attack, playing a clever one-two with Manuel Rui Costa, before cutting inside from the left to slide the ball into Batistuta’s path with a beautifully-weighted pass.
The Argentine controls the ball on the run without breaking stride, slowing down just enough to chip the ball past Gianluca Pagliuca into the far corner. Majestic.
8) Parma vs Roma – February 4, 2001
At 31, Batistuta finally decided to bid goodbye to Florence in pursuit of the Scudetto that had repeatedly eluded him on the banks of the Arno. His quest took him south on the A1 motorway, with Roma all too happy to pay £23.5m for his services – then a record fee for a player in his 30s – as they looked to dethrone reigning champions Lazio.
Costly as he was, signing Batistuta proved to be inspired business from the Giallorossi as he scored 20 Serie A goals and helped Roma to their first Scudetto in 18 years.
With Fabio Capello’s men trailing 1-0 against Parma and their title bid faltering after just one win in the previous three games, the Argentine justified his price tag.
Ghosting in behind Fabio Cannavaro and Lillian Thuram, Batistuta meets Walter Samuel’s long ball with a superb volley that flies past Gianluigi Buffon to restore parity with 15 minutes left.
Nine minutes later, he sealed all three points with a similarly smart finish. And in a perfect example of circularity, Batigol would be on the scoresheet against Parma on the final day of the season as Roma are crowned champions.
7) Roma vs Fiorentina – November 26, 2000
“One title with this club is worth more than 10 with Milan or Juventus”, Batistuta reflected when asked about his desire to stay with Fiorentina, for which he scored a club record 152 Serie A goals.
But by the summer of 2000, however reluctantly, he allowed his head to rule his heart and joined Roma.
The Giallorossi had won six of their first seven Serie A matches by the time Fiorentina arrived at the Stadio Olimpico in late November. Batistuta’s first meeting against his former club looked to be petering out to a mundane stalemate, when Gianni Guigou cushioned a header in his direction with seven minutes left to play.
Batigol peels off the edge of the box away from goal and opens up his body as the ball bounces in front of him, before unleashing a volley of trademark beauty that sails past Fiorentina keeper Francesco Toldo into the top corner. A dagger to La Viola’s hearts and, by all accounts, to Batistuta’s own.
“I played the whole match with these conflicting thoughts in my head – I am sorry for Fiorentina,” he said afterward. “It was important, though, because I want to win for Roma so I was trying hard but I cannot forget my past.”
6) Benfica vs Fiorentina – March 6, 1997
Fiorentina’s Coppa Italia triumph in 1996 earned them a spot in the Cup Winners Cup the following season. Gloria Bistrita and Sparta Prague were dealt with in the early rounds to set up a glamorous quarter-final against Benfica.
Leading 1-0 through Francesco Baiano’s goal on the stroke of half-time, as the clock ticks towards 90 minutes Fiorentina stop a Benfica attack, allowing Giovanni Piacentini to break down the right wing and whip a rather tired cross towards the middle of the box.
With two defenders around him and no support to speak of, Batistuta swivels off his left foot and wraps his right foot around the ball coming from behind his shoulder to help it into the far corner past Michel Preud’homme without barely breaking stride.
5) Manchester United vs Fiorentina – March 15, 2000
‘Batistuta! What a hit!’
There is something unique about a finish so thunderous that the ball comes ricocheting out of the goal after hitting the net.
And, as Clive Tyldesley’s commentary on ITV suggests, within this particular category few finishes can match Batistuta’s opener against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 3-1 loss in the second group stage of the Champions League.
With 16 minutes gone, Batigol receives a pass from Angelo Di Livio, with his back towards the goal and Jaap Stam right behind him. Expecting the Fiorentina No 9 may run at him, the United defender backs off the Argentine.
Batistuta, however, has no intention to take Stam, or anyone else for that matter, on. He sidesteps past his opponent and simply lets rip, the ball detonating off his right boot and past Mark Bosnich at lightning speed.
Had Sir Alex Ferguson succeeded in signing him, Batistuta may have treated United fans to such scenes week in, week out. But the Scot never managed to secure a deal for Batigol, whose superb finish came in his only appearance at Old Trafford.
4) Fiorentina vs Napoli – February 25, 1996
Watch clips of Batistuta’s greatest goals and one theme appears over and over again.
His finishes are so often referred to as “missiles” that you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a World War II documentary on Netflix.
And yet, even two decades on from his retirement, it’s impossible to watch Batistuta’s goals and not be amazed by the sheer destructive force of his strikes.
His second goal in a 3-0 win over Napoli is the perfect example. With Fiorentina 1-0 to the good courtesy of one of Batistuta’s trademark free-kicks, Manuel Rui Costa releases Michele Serena down the right flank as La Viola surge forward.
Just as Serena is about to slide a pass into Batistuta’s path, the ball takes a bobble and as a result lands on the Argentine’s chest rather than in front of him.
Batigol barely blinks, taking the ball down on the run and leathering it – because there really is no other way to put it – past Giuseppe Taglialatela right down the middle of the goal.
3) Udinese vs Fiorentina – August 31, 1997
Fiorentina in their Fila kit sponsored by Nintendo facing an Udinese side containing Oliver Biehroff and Marcio Amoroso, which would finish third in Serie A.
This may sound like an advert for Mundial, but it was nothing but beautiful reality for spectators at the Stadio Friuli on the opening day of the 1997-98 season.
Batistuta has already scored twice – including an 89th minute equaliser – by the time Fiorentina float a hopeful punt into the Udinese box three minutes into injury time.
The Argentine is initially beaten to the ball, which then gets flicked towards him as the hosts fail to clear their lines.
Standing on the edge of the D and with no backlift to speak of, Batigol takes a step back and plants a bicycle kick past the hapless Massimiliano Caniato.
It is not technically a perfect hat-trick, but it should be.
2) Barcelona vs Fiorentina, April 10 1997
Fiorentina in their resplendent white Reebok, Sammontana-sponsored away kit at the Nou Camp against a Barcelona side featuring Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Hristo Stoichkov managed by Sir Bobby Robson. This, to borrow from Jose Mourinho’s lexicon, was football heritage.
Trailing 1-0, La Viola turned to their talisman yet again. What followed was further proof world class athletes can slow the game down and play it at a pace different from everyone else.
Drifting just inside the box, Batistuta receives a cross from the right and controls it with his chest before cushioning it with his right knee.
Anticipating the Argentine will run into the box, Fernando Couto moves to close him down only to find Batistuta moving in the opposite direction.
But like a batsman waiting for the ball to come onto the bat before playing the perfect drive, Batistuta bides his time before making his move.
When he does, he launches a ferocious half-volley flashing past Vitor Baia and into the net to silence the Nou Camp.
With the Argentine suspended after picking up a yellow card, Barcelona would go on to win the second leg 2-0 en route to win the trophy. Batigol, however, had made the Nou Camp his own, albeit momentarily.
1) Arsenal vs Fiorentina – October 27, 1999
Contempt at UEFA’s seemingly needless tinkering with the Champions League format isn’t exclusive to this season. To mark the arrival of the new millennium, UEFA opted to expand the competition by introducing a second group stage and two further groups, a move which was far from universally popular.
The revamped format, however, suited Fiorentina as La Viola returned among European football’s finest for the first time in three decades only to find themselves in a group containing Arsenal and Barcelona.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side travelled to Wembley – where the Gunners opted to play their European fixtures – for the penultimate game of the group knowing the winner would go through.
The task ahead was colossal. Fiorentina had lost three consecutive league games going into the tie, while Arsene Wenger could pick his best XI for the first time since the beginning of the season.
The scoreboard remained untroubled until the 76th minute, when Aldo Firicano dispossessed Patrick Vieira with a crunching tackle to release Jorg Heinrich.
As the German gallops forward, he has no Fiorentina shirts directly ahead of him, with Batistuta peeling off Nigel Winterburn on the right side of the box.
Heinrich changes direction just in time to play a pass into his path, but he has overrun the ball and Batistuta receives it from a standing start rather than on the move.
It matters not a jot. Batigol cushions the ball, shifts to his left and drags it past Winterburn, who, sensing danger, lunges at the Fiorentina striker with a last-ditch tackle.
But from an incredibly acute angle, Batistuta lets fly. The ball soars past David Seaman and into the net before anyone in the ground has had time to digest what has happened.
It was arguably the last great goal witnessed at the old Wembley, which would close its doors 12 months later. It could hardly have been more fitting.
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