Batistuta

Gabriel Batistuta

Batistuta in 2006
Personal information
Full name	Gabriel Omar Batistuta
Date of birth	(1969-02-01) 1 February 1969 (age 48)
Place of birth	Avellaneda, Santa Fe, Argentina
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1987–1988	Newell's Old Boys
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1988–1989	Newell's Old Boys	16	(4)
1989–1990	River Plate	19	(17)
1990–1991	Boca Juniors	30	(13)
1991–2000	Fiorentina	269	(168)
2000–2003	Roma	63	(30)
2003	→ Internazionale (loan)	12	(2)
2003–2005	Al-Arabi	21	(25)
Total		430	(245)
National team
1991–2002	Argentina	78	(56)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Gabriel Omar Batistuta (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡaˈβɾjel ˈomaɾ βatisˈtuta]; born 1 February 1969), nicknamed Batigol [batiˈɣol] as well as El Ángel Gabriel [el ˌaŋxel ɣaˈβɾjel] (Spanish for Angel Gabriel), is a retired Argentine professional footballer. After beginning his career in Argentina in 1988, where he won titles playing for Newell's Old Boys, River Plate, and subsequently Boca Juniors, the prolific striker played most of his club football with Fiorentina in Italy; he is the club's all-time top scorer and the twelfth-highest scorer of all-time in the Italian Serie A, with 184 goals in 318 matches.

When his club Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped it return to the top-flight league a year later. He became a popular sporting figure in Florence; the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for the club. Despite winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana with the club in 1996, he never won the Italian league with Fiorentina, but when he moved to Roma in 2000, he finally won the Serie A title to crown his career in Italy. After an unsuccessful loan spell with Inter in 2003, he played his last two seasons in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.