GABRIEL BATISTUTA

One of the finest strikers of the 1990s, Gabriel Batistuta scored goals at a remarkable rate at club level, but at an even more astonishing rate for the Argentinian national team. His goalscoring record was all the more notable given the era in which he played.

Batistuta's career started with short spells at Newell's Old Boys and River Plate in Argentina, where he began to establish his reputation as a prolific goalscorer. Moving on to Boca Juniors in 1990, he was the league's leading goalscorer as Boca took the Argentinian Closing Championship in 1991. This achievment earned him a place in the national squad for the Copa America in Chile, and his success in that tournament attracted the attention of European clubs. Batistuta scored six goals in as many games as Argentina won the competition, and he was rewarded with a move to Italian Serie A side Fiorentina.

In a nine year stay at the club, Batistuta would become a Fiorentina legend. Leading goalscorer in Serie A in 1994-95, he helped Fiorentina to win the Italian Cup a year later. By the end of his stay in Florence, he had become the club's all-time leading goalscorer with 168 league goals.

Whilst with Fiorentina, Batistuta enjoyed great success with the national team. He won a second Copa America winners medal in 1993, and shared the top scorer's position again in 1995. He was one of the most successful strikers in World Cup football in the 1990s, scoring four goals in four games in the U.S.A. in 1994 and five in five four years later in France.

In 2000, Batistuta moved on from Fiorentina to AS Roma, where in his first season the club won the Serie A title. He retired from international football after Argentina's shock first round exit from the 2002 World Cup, and after a short loan spell at Internazionale he moved to Al-Arabi in Qatar to finish his playing career. Batistuta's goalscoring rate remained high as he was top scorer in his only full season in Qatar, before retiring due to injuries in 2005.