Focus On; Gabriel Batistuta

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Bio:

Gabriel Omar Batistuta (born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol as well as El Ángel Gabrie. Regarded as one of the best strikers of all time, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players in 2004.

After beginning his career in Argentina in 1988 with Newell’s Old Boys, followed by River Plate and Boca Juniors where he won titles, Batistuta played most of his club football with Serie A club Fiorentina in Italy; he is their all-time top scorer in Serie A with 151 goals. When Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped them return to the top-flight league a year later. He became an icon in Florence; the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for the club.

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EXCLUSIVE: Pablo Zabaleta on coaching Albania and representing Argentina at the World Cup

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When Pablo Zabaleta took a call from his old friend Sylvinho during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he could hardly have imagined where it would lead. Two and a half years later, the former Argentina and Manchester City defender finds himself at the heart of one of football’s most compelling stories — guiding Albania to the brink of their first-ever World Cup qualification.

With Albania set to face Poland in the World Cup qualifying play-off, Flashscore sat down with Zabaleta to discuss the mission, the magic of Messi, and why he thinks you should book a holiday to Albania as soon as possible.

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Focus On; John Barnes

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Bio:

John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players, Barnes works as an author, as well as a commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially he was a quick and skilful left winger, then he moved to central midfield later in his career. Barnes won two League titles and two FA Cups with Liverpool. He also earned 79 international caps for England.

Barnes was born and raised in Jamaica as the son of a military officer from Trinidad and Tobago and a Jamaican mother. He moved to London, England, with his family when he was 12 years old. He joined Watford aged 17 in 1981, before playing 296 competitive games for them, scoring 85 goals. He debuted for England in 1983, and in 1987 joined Liverpool for £900,000. In his ten seasons there, Liverpool won the then-top-flight First Division twice and the FA Cup twice. He scored 106 goals in 403 matches. By the time of his last cap, in 1995, he had more caps than any other black England player. After two years at Newcastle United, he ended his playing career at Charlton Athletic in 1999. Barnes had eight months as Celtic head coach when his former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was director of football. He has since managed the Jamaica national team, in 2008–09, and English club Tranmere Rovers, for four months in 2009.

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