FLORENCE. Italy. March 1: Fiorentina's Predrag Mijatovic broke his old club's — heart here on Wednesday night as the Yugoslav striker scored a penalty in a 1-0 win over Valencia, reports AFP Mijatovic, who spent three seasons with Valencia from 1993-96. converted the spol-kick after 20 minutes to bring up Fiorentina's second straight home win after beating Manchester United 2-0 in November.

Fiorentina skipper Gabriel Batistuta squandered several chances to make it 2-0 but chances also went begging for the Spanish side, who enjoyed most of the second-half possession.

Fiorentina made a promising start with Batistuta being left unmarked, chesting the ball down and hitting a daisy-cutter from close range after just six minutes.

Fellow Argentinian Claudio Lopez, linked with a move from Valencia to Lazio next season, proved to be menace though at the other end as the Spai ish side began to probe the Fiorentina defence.

But most of the pressure was coming from the home team and it paid off when Mijatovic earned himself a penally following contact in the area with defender Luis Milla

Mijatovic, whose matchwinner for Real Madrid against Juventus decided the 1998 European Cup Final, tucked his spot-kick into the bottom lefthand corner.

Fiorentina nearly had another a few minutes later when Portuguese playmaker Manuel Rui Costa finished a rapid counter-attack with a booming shot that whistled just wide of the target.

Bui Valencia kept their cool and although their passing was often short on accuracy, they were unlucky not to snatch an equaliser when Gerard Lopez's

header from a corner flashed just outside the left-hand pool.

Francisco Farinos should have done better though four minutes from the break when a loose ball from a corner left him with a free shot which he blasted hopelessly wide.

Romanian teammate Adrian Ilie showed him how it was done in first-half stoppage time with a barrelling drive which Fiorentina goalkeeper Francesco Toldo did well to turn away for a corner.

The Spanish side had a halfchance soon after the re-start with a cross-shot from midfielder Kily Gonzales but it should really have been 2-0 to Fiorentina in the 54th minute.

Sandro Cois beat Valencia goalkeeper Jose Santiago Canizares to a near-post cross, nodding the ball back to the far post for Batistuta - only for the Argentinian to head wide with an open goal beckoning from point-blank range.