Milan fan
01-05-2002, 11:24 PM
Gabriel Batistuta hopes to be back in the side for the weekend clash with Torino after returning from his Christmas break in Reconquista, Santa Fe. "I think I will be OK to play Torino and if the coach wants me to play I will," he said.
The former Fiorentina ace has been struggling to find any form in Italy this season, and was dealt a further blow in December when he was ruled out until after the Christmas break with a thigh injury.
"I am much better after the injury and recovering well from the hamstring problem I had on my right leg. In the next few days I will start to run," he said.
Batistuta scored 20 times in 28 matches as Roma lifted the title last season, but has found the net just three times in ten Serie A matches this time round – and is now under pressure to keep his place in the Argentina squad.
Having shrugged of his latest injury, however, he is keen to put the first-half of the season behind him and return to form ahead of the World Cup finals.
"I want to be useful for my team and I want to reach to the beginning of the World Cup in perfect condition," he said as he left Ezeiza airport with his agent Settimio Aloisio.
Batistuta added that there is nothing that he wants more than to bring success to Argentina in the summer to lift the population from the troubled economic times the country is going through.
"I hope that we have a good season with Roma, but what I wish most is to do well with Argentina in the World Cup, because that would bring happiness to all our people who in the last months have suffered very badly," he said.
Argentina boss Marcelo Bielsa has an embarrassment of riches in attack with Lazio pair Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, Barcelona's Javier Saviola and Celta Vigo's Gustavo Lopez all competing with the Roma star.
The former Fiorentina ace has been struggling to find any form in Italy this season, and was dealt a further blow in December when he was ruled out until after the Christmas break with a thigh injury.
"I am much better after the injury and recovering well from the hamstring problem I had on my right leg. In the next few days I will start to run," he said.
Batistuta scored 20 times in 28 matches as Roma lifted the title last season, but has found the net just three times in ten Serie A matches this time round – and is now under pressure to keep his place in the Argentina squad.
Having shrugged of his latest injury, however, he is keen to put the first-half of the season behind him and return to form ahead of the World Cup finals.
"I want to be useful for my team and I want to reach to the beginning of the World Cup in perfect condition," he said as he left Ezeiza airport with his agent Settimio Aloisio.
Batistuta added that there is nothing that he wants more than to bring success to Argentina in the summer to lift the population from the troubled economic times the country is going through.
"I hope that we have a good season with Roma, but what I wish most is to do well with Argentina in the World Cup, because that would bring happiness to all our people who in the last months have suffered very badly," he said.
Argentina boss Marcelo Bielsa has an embarrassment of riches in attack with Lazio pair Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, Barcelona's Javier Saviola and Celta Vigo's Gustavo Lopez all competing with the Roma star.