English Translated and Provided by Humbird
El Grafico - April 21, 1998; By: Adrian Maladesky
The sensation is strange. They come by the thousands on Highway A4 from Milan
to Bergamo, with the Alps as guides to the north, and the Ferraris and
Mercedes Benz cars pass us like we were standing still-thinking about Batistuta
. The thoughts are also in the thousands. What had passed through his mind
after the game against Israel? What did he feel in the final instant when he
took off his shirt and gripped the captain's armband? How was his return to
Florence, in view of the next game against Ireland and his re-encounter with
the national team? And aftet... the rumors that arrived from Buenos Aires, in
a cable from the EFE Agency, that Bati feels far from France and would quit
the national team. Could it be possible? Here we go, thousands on the roads and
thousands of thoughts in the mind, looking for answers.
We arrive. From above we look at the impressive city of Bergamo. Here Claudio
Caniggia played. Here Batistuta won the Copa Italia with Fiorentina in 1996.
The hotel is the same as that time, before the final with Atalanta, the
Excelsior San Marco. But there are more people waiting for the visiting team,
and it is not the Brazilian Edmundo that they wait for, nor Oliveira, nor Rui
Costa. They wait for Bati. And when he arrives, the man from Reconquista signs
autographs, poses for photos and smiles. His popularity is indisputable; he is
one of the upper class of Italian football. He is not having his best season,
but he has scored 18 goals without penalty kicks, his team is fighting for a
place in the UEFA Cup, and he is in the sights of the biggest clubs.
"I am well, maintaining an average of 15 goals per year, which is not just a
few. We will see what will happen at the end of the championship. I don't know
if I am going to continue, that we are deciding with the president. I know
that I am wanted by Milan, Parma and Inter."
--After the game against Israel it could be seen that you were tired.
"I lost two kilos during the week and I was tired after the game, nothing grave
, a problem of nutrition, nothing more. It had nothing to do with how I played."
--How did you feel within the group?
"No drama. One plays good games, and others not so good. Against Israel we
played badly, at least me-I was not at my best level."
--How does it feel to travel so far to play with the national team, and then
not to play well?
"Disturbed, like happens to any that go to the national team and play badly.
Luckily, there is the game with Ireland. There are times when you have to wait
for more time."
--Do you have some explanation as to what happened to the team?
"Difficult… I don't know. After Bulgaria I thought that things would go better
, but we are not good yet. We will wait for the game against Ireland to know if
it was a casual thing or if the national team really are in a negative period."
--Do you think you can force yourself into a place on the list? Perhaps you
will not be there...
"I won't get upset. I don't have special treatment. Passarella said that he has
ideas and that two games are not going to change anything. I believe it because
it is normal that two months before the World Cup, the coach has at least 80
percent of the players in his mind."
--Passarella said that he has some 20 definites and four or five for the other
places. Where do you see yourself?
"I don't see myself in any place. I want to be in the World Cup and when the
list comes, we will see, yes or no. I think that I could be, I am confident,
but it doesn't depend on me."
--It is very humble to say, "I think I could be." You are the top goal scorer
in the history of the national team!
"I don't think it has much to do with it that I am the top scorer, because I
was not there in the middle of the qualifications and I was the top scorer then
too. I think that the past has little to do with it."
--Do you have doubts about playing this World Cup?
"No, it is not that I have doubts, but neither can I say, "I am on the team."
There are 25 or 30 players that are fighting to have a place, and it does not
seem right to me to say, "I am" or "I have to be." It doesn't seem right
respecting my teammates, nothing more than that. As I feel confident to be
there, surely the other 30 that are fighting feel that confidence."
--Also do you think that in the debut game against Japan, you could be a
starter?
"Yes, I think that I could be."
--And now we are projecting, also could you be the captain?
"No, that is not the proposition put to me, the proposition is to be in the
starting 11. If I am the captain, so much the better, because it is a great
thing, but it is not the primary problem to resolve on my list. Besides it is
the group that decides who is the captain."
--What did it mean to be the captain against Israel?
"What I am saying to you is that I enjoy being the captain, but this is not a
problem. I am the captain of Fiorentina but because the group elected me,
nothing more. It is not because I make 200 goals. It is because each time we
begin a new season I am elected and I think that in the national team, it is
the same."
If at times it seems impossible to make to passes in sequence in football, in
Italy it is difficult to speak l0 continuous minutes with Batistuta. Children,
adults, cameras, surround him, in English, and in Italian. Gabriel responds
with a smile and surprises all with his language. "How many pictures?" he asks
in English. "The last," he insists. "I'm tired," he says and pretends to go to
sleep. He continues in a good humor, which disappears when the subject arises
of the rumors from Argentina. He doesn't want to talk about it. He does not
like problems. He doesn't use words, but his facial expression asks: "Do I have
to demonstrate my wish to play in the national team?" We continue talking, and
he calms down.
--Did you speak with Passarella in Jerusalem?
"No, nothing special."
--No face-to-face talk?
"I don't get special treatment."
--That's o.k., but Daniel says that he has little time to work and sometimes
takes advantage of bus rides to speak with a player.
"The truth is that surely we met in the hotel and spoke, but of nothing special
."
--You didn't speak of anything specific?
"No, no, no, he doesn't have this type of dialog."
--The other day, after training in Jerusalem, you said that your relation with
Passarella is normal. What do you call a normal relationship?
"Well, for me it is normal... normal. I don't call him from my home to ask how
he is and if he has some problem. We work together and it is a normal
relationship."
--Does he call you at your home?
"He calls when he has to know how I am. It is not a friendship. I also don't
call some of the team members, and others I speak with more often."
--It is a player-coach relationship.
"Yes."
--Cold?
"No, it's not like I go to the national team and Passarella refuses to speak
with me…that would be cold, or that I go and don't greet anyone. I am trying
like anyone; this to me seems normal and also just. Also, if one was a friend
of a coach and had an affinity, neither should it affect one's playing for the
team. For this, I say that it is a normal relationship."
--Do you think Passarella treats all the players the same?
"I don't know. What I say to you is that when in the group we are all equal.
--Returning to football, after the Israel game, there was the impression that
there was a short circuit between you and the team. Do you think that you have
to adapt your play or the team has to adapt to you?
"I am part of the team. I'm not playing tennis. I don't know why the others
should have to adapt to me or I to them. We have to do both things. One can't
speak of ten players playing for me, it's not possible."
--You are one of the best players in the national team, the top scorer.
"It has nothing to do with it. I have to help the team and the rest have to do
the same."
--Do you have an understanding with your teammates?
"What I see are normal difficulties between people that play very little
together, nothing more."
--You played few games with Gallardo and Lopez.
"Yes… so? Against Bulgaria we played well. We encountered times that we played
well, but against Israel it went badly."
--Are you worried about the team?
"We are going to see against Ireland if it was something casual or concrete."
--After Ireland we could know if we should worry or not.
"It is necessary to wait, but I, at least, was in one good game and one bad one
. Because after Bulgaria it was not said that we are going to be champions of
the world or we cannot play better than this. As we don't say these things when
we win and play well, neither do we lower our heads because we lose a game and
play badly. It is necessary to maintain a balance and try to make conclusions.
I don't think that one friendly game can determine how Argentina is doing at
this moment. It's better that we lose now than against Japan or Jamaica.
--Can something positive be made from Israel, not to make excuses?
"It is not useful to hide. I always think this. Excuses don't work-- that it is
too hot, that one didn't eat enough during the week-- those are just stupid.
If one plays badly, one plays badly. It is a positive attitude to demonstrate
that the team is thinking as an adult, this is important before the World Cup.
--How will Argentina arrive at the World Cup?
"Argentina is always a candidate. Even if we lose all the games from now to the
World Cup, everyone will put us among the candidates. This is historic.
Afterward, it will depend on the players."
--And how will Batistuta arrive? With the doubts from USA '94?'
"No, I owe nothing with respect to the past World Cup. It's not that I don't
have to demonstrate anything, I have to demonstrate that I kept a high level of
play, but nothing remains with me."
--But the expectations are something else.
"I think that none of those that were there owe anything. It's not that I'm
saying that I played well and the others were a disaster. What I know is that
we gave it our all."
--You have the desire for revenge.
"No, nothing remains with me. I know that we could have won it, but that's how
it is. What's there to recriminate?"
--Perhaps the word should not be "doubts" then?
"I am going to look for another experience. In '94 I was a kid and now I am a
veteran. It will be important to me to demonstrate that I have maintained a
high level of play, and I will try to do this-and to win, of course."
--Returning to Israel, Bati. I call your attention to the angry way you took
off your shirt at the end. What did you feel at that moment?
"Anger because we lost, nothing more. When I went into the dressing room I
didn't see anyone happy. I was not an exception."
--Is it true that at the end of any game, the first thing that you do is take
off your shirt?
"I'm not going to answer that (long silence). We didn't win. I don't see why
I should have to be happy about it. Nothing more. Is this over?"(生氣了耶)
--No. Calm yourself. It was an image that remained with me and with many other
people.
"The best that I can say is that I was tired and the worst I can say is that I
was mad at someone."(真的很氣)
--The reality is?
"That I was angry because we lost."
--Angry with yourself, with your teammates, with whom?
"No, I was not mad at the others, I was mad at myself."
--Gabriel, are you thinking about quitting the national team?
"No. Never. Never."
--
"現在的我們就像被搶走奶酪的五歲孩子一樣， 誰都不想跟誰說話，
也許對現在的我們來說，沉默是最好的解脫方式"─Veron
--
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