In-form 'Batigol' feels like dancing
Monday, January 25, 2010
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When Italy's Clayton Baptistella scores, he likes to celebrate with a dance. The hat-trick against Ukraine was the perfect stage to show off his moves and he aims to keep scoring against the Czech Republic in the last four.
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When Italy striker Clayton Baptistella scores a goal, he likes to celebrate with a trademark dance. The UEFA European Futsal Championship has been the perfect stage to show off his moves.
Free-scoring
The 26-year-old, who shares the nickname 'Batigol' with Gabriel Batistuta, made his Italy bow at the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil after a number of prolific seasons in Serie A, with Vinicius Bácaro out injured. However, it was in qualifying for these finals that he really made his breakthrough, his total of six goals the best in the competition. He has kept it up in Hungary, striking in the 4-0 defeat of Belgium then adding a hat-trick as Italy beat Ukraine 4-2 to finish top of Group B in Debrecen, keeping up his record of registering in every game of Italy's campaign so far and putting him top of the scorers' table.
Celebration
Once the hat-trick was complete, he performed a twinkle-toed shuffle that would not have looked out of place in the half-time entertainment. "I have that dance in my blood," Baptistella told uefa.com. "My team-mates always ask me to do it. It crossed my mind when I scored the third goal, Marcio Forte approached me and told me: 'Now you must do the dance!'"
Assis understaning
All four of the Luparense C5 forward's strikes here have come from outside the box and most in combination with Saad Assis, who Baptistella has also set up for three goals. "Saad and me have developed an understanding," Baptistella said. "I know instinctively what he is going to do, so I always try to help him. It is important for me to have a player like him in the squad, with his characteristics. We hope to keep this telepathy going to the end."
Quarter-final
Baptistella's next target is the quarter-final against the Czech Republic on Monday. "The true European Championship begins now; these are the games in which you cannot make mistakes," he said. "The game against the Czech Republic is a one-off; we won't be allowed to fail."
For the list of group stage top scorers click here.
