FIORENTINA president Vittorio Cecchi Gori added fuel to the fire raging around Argentinian international striker Gabriel Batistuta by insisting he would be staying at the Serie A club.
Batistuta's agent Settimio Aloisi recently admitted the star would be leaving, with Lazio, Parma and Roma heading the list of clubs ready to sign the wantaway forward. Manchester United are also believed to be interested in the 29-year-old, but an Old Trafford spokesman last week admitted the player was ''not in our plans at the moment.''
But any future move could be scuppered by Gori and Giovanni Trapattoni, who will be coaching Fiorentina next season after recently ending his spell with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. Movie tycoon and politician Gori said: ''Contracts must be honoured, and Batistuta's contract with Fiorentina lasts two more years.
''I want to preserve a powerful team for next season, to possibly win the Italian title. Batistuta is one of our top stars. I also want to keep Edmundo, who has signed a four-year contract with us."
And Gori dismissed the claims of Batistuta's agent, adding: ''Transfers must be negotiated by club presidents, not by agents.''

IT'S MAGIC FOR MUNICH BAYERN Munich claimed their ninth German Cup after coming from behind to beat MSV Duisburg 2-1 at Berlin's Olympic Stadium. Togolese striker Bachirou Salou fired Duisburg into a 20th-minute lead after outpacing Germany's recalled international Lothar Matthaus and then hammering home an unstoppable low drive past Oliver Kahn in the Bayern goal. But Markus Babbel turned in the equaliser from five yards out after 70 minutes. The winning goal came with two minutes to go when Mario Basler hit a long, curling free-kick which deceived everybody and bounced six yards out before nestling in the net. It was Bayern's first domestic Cup win for 12 years and gave departing Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni a winning send-off in his last match in charge. In the Belgian Cup Final, Guinea striker Souleymane Oulare scored twice in two minutes for Genk as they pulled off a shock 4-0 thrashing of favourites Bruges. There was another hammering in the Dutch Cup Final where Finnish striker Jari Litmanen scored a hat-trick as Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven 5-0. Nigerian winger Babangida and Shota Arveladze were also on target as the Amsterdam club completed The Double.

JAMAICA AND USA STRUGGLE IN FRIENDLIES JAMAICA's stumbling World Cup preparations continued on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat by fellow finalists South Korea. Derby's Darryl Powell scrambled a 41st minute equaliser after Lee Sang-yoon had given Korea the lead after 35 minutes but Lee doubled his tally with the winner five minutes after Powell scored. In another World Cup warm-up, the USA failed to breakdown Macedonia in a 0-0 draw. The match, played before 23,861 fans following a Major League Soccer encounter in San Jose, was the first since U.S. coach Steve Sampson named 20 of the 22 players for the squad that will play in France. Macedonia have a similar style to the United States' final group opponents, Yugoslavia and although the Americans kept the same 3-6-1 formation that produced a 3-0 triumph last month in Austria, they couldn't repeat that spectacular success. Tab Ramos, a favorite for one of the two U.S. World Cup vacancies, made his first international appearance since last October. He is recovering from torn knee ligaments but showed no signs of the injury in playing most of the game. The Americans were without potential starters Frankie Hejduk (right hamstring strain), Claudio Reyna (calf strain), Ernie Stewart (ankle sprain) and Eric Wynalda (knee cartilage tear) but Sampson hopes all will return in time for a friendly on May 24 against Kuwait in Portland, Oregon, a week before their final pre-France game against Scotland on May 30 in Washington.

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