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Tuesday, 9 April, 2002, 16:05 GMT 17:05 UK

Gabriel Batistuta

Club: Roma
Position: Forward

Gabriel Batistuta finished the last World Cup in France with an impressive tally of five goals to his name - only Croatia's Davor Suker scored more in the tournament.

He was also his country's top scorer at USA 94 with four goals.

The man nicknamed 'Batigol' by adoring Argentines has lost some of his electric pace over the last couple of years.

And he appears to have fallen out of favour with coach Marcelo Biesla, who prefers the combination of Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez.

But Batistuta still packs an explosive shot, good upper-body strength and has started to adapt to a new role as more of a hold-up striker.

He is now more usually responsible for drawing opponents and then picking the passes for the likes of Lopez and Crespo to burst onto.

In 2000/01, his 20 goals fired Roma to their first league championship since 1983. Before that he spent nine years rattling them in for Fiorentina.


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