New Fiorentina signing Christian Vieri is eager to dodge comparisons with Viola legend Gabriel Batistuta.

"I'm honoured to be compared to Batistuta, even if I don't think that it's true," Vieri grinned. "He was the best striker in the world for several years and we played together at Inter."

The former Inter and AC Milan striker admits Serie A has dropped in the European rankings.

"Calciopoli has really damaged Italian football and ours is not the best in the world now," the 33 year-old added.

"Spain and England are better and that was confirmed by the departure of Rolando Bianchi, Luca Toni and Cristiano Lucarelli. The fact that they left was a defeat for the game in Italy."