Hi:

I'm curious about two things, I hope someone can help me. First of all, did Bati ever play in a match with Maradona? And, secondly, I'd really like to know about what kind of relationship Batistuta had with Ariel Ortega off the field, whether they were friendly or not. They were such a great combo on the pitch.

Thanks for any info!

Love - Lex

Bati played with Maradona during world cup 94... they were doing great but unfortunately Maradona did not pass drug test and Argentina lost to Romania in the second round... I think Bati and Ortega should be good friend ... but I really don't know abou it ...

Lex, Gabriel played some games alongside the 'God'. Ja, he did. The Fifa World Cuo' 94 wasn't only tourney though. The combo worked well all the same.

Secondly, El Burrito played quite a lot along side El Camion. Both at their peak played as nationale combo. I never thought they had best of understanding though. Both on and off the field. I am not sure many of you not aware of their alleged fight in Paris hotel amid world cup' 98 where Bati was furious for having very little service from El Burrito whom he always thought should play more for him. The relation/friendship issue now, i never thought they had best of terms. It was Seba Veron, Piojo and El Burrito who were great freinds not Gabriel and as a matter of fact he rather had cold terms with the above mentioned trio.

But the bottom line is they all played for nationale team and any relation (hot or cold) meant nothing once they wore the Albiceleste.

What does i know? Imagine that?

Infact, both Gabriel and Ariel had a boxing going on during the training camp at Ezeiza. Areil was knocked out by bad Gabriel and later Seba, Piojo and our old folk hero Crespo stood behind the knocked out Ariel, the whole team broke out after the incident and then in the game x Holland Ariel proved he's a pecho frio as we call here in Argentina.

I love both Ariel and Gabriel. They never got together well at all but all due to different personalities and characters. They both however shared some great relations at the 'press' times too. Sadly, all this happened.

Juan - thanks very much!

It's funny, because not only did Bati and Ortega seem to be a good match on the pitch, they also seemed to often be the first to celebrate a goal with each other, so it looked to me like they must have had a good relationship.

I'd really love to know where to go to find out info on these kinds of questions, background stuff, etc. I tried to look online for an Argentine soccer magazine or something to which I could subscribe, but I couldn't find anything - do you know one?

Thanks again for all the info!

Love - Lex

Interesting Juan, I always percived ariel n gabriel were gd friends.

Daryl, I bet you preceived all on television screen. . They got along enough well to pose for camera all in smiles and could manage all the cheers on the pitch. Like i earlier said, the shirt they wore was mutual pride which made both refrain all the pet peeves. Anyway, they weren't all the bishou, namas all the same but two different characters.

Lex, to my knowledge there ain't such magazine which could cover 'similar' installation. That's why we all come here to share our info-logical knowledge and so on.

Ciao.

here are two different transcipts of what i was talking about.



- Daniel Passarella, the Argentino head coach denied the rumors, he said, "After the game vs Japan, Batistuta snapped at Ortega, saying, "You have to get rid of the ball faster and play with me more. I make runs and wait, wait and wait while you either shoot or loose the ball going for glory." Daniel more said, "this was no fight but a team problem".


- In a press conference called by the all Argenine team, they said the rumours were wrong. An fight between Batistuta and Ortega was main issue with the participation of Juan Veron in defense of Ortega and Ortega kept quite. Gabriel was the only player not present in the press show.



- Batigol had punch fight with Ortega. The later was joined by Veron, Crespo and Lopez that is why Batistuta always isolated in his room without company at the training camp in Ezeiza.
---

(firsttwo infos all english translation from La Nacion. and the third is translation from El Grafico, Argentina)


That's all folks!

And here's one of those 'celebrations' caught by the press!!


(From the site that Lexa found!)

Thanks Juan... I remember reading something about bad vibes between the 2 of them, but I couldn't remember exactly what.

I found one of Bati and Diego too!

Juan, thanks for the info and also where you found it (btw, I've looked at what it costs to subscribe to El Grafico here, and it's about $200! ) I'm a little disappointed to have my impression that Batistuta and Ortega were friendly isn't the case ...

Katy - I love the pic of Bati and Maradona - I've gotten interested lately in watching matches in which they both played. And I have a great pic of Batistuta and Ortega hugging after a goal, but I have no idea how to post pictures here ...

Love - Lex

Katy, the duo celeberates the Batistuta's goal against the bitter rivals - a historic moment. Batistuta scored from the penalty beating a diving Seman. Ortega and Batistuta remembered what that all meant. It allowed us to come back after we were one goal down in the second round of France'98 vs England.

Lex, I didn't need any online magazine or newspaper website to post this info. I always keep my El Grafico copies safe. Seconly, I do memorise everything concerning football argentino for last three decades. So, your required info is not that old issue for me.

LOL yes Juan I percieved it from the press, nice images Katy thanks, maybe thats another reason the duo didn't go to Man United after France 98 hmmm.

Yep... I remember that penalty celebration REALLY well! It was the one where he went to the crowd and 'rocked the baby' (think it was just after Lucas was born)

Yesss, Daryl.. you could be right! I was totally devastated when that deal fell through!
Trapatoni had talked Bati into staying at Fio so neither of them came..
(I bet they were both a bit regretful, though, when United won the treble a year later! )