[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Yes, Manchester City's opponent in the Champions League quarter-finals is none other than their old friend, Manchester United, who once called them their noisy neighbours.

Three days after celebrating Batistuta's 19th birthday, Guardiola led the team to bid farewell to Sheikh Mansour and returned to Etihad for targeted training.

This signing is both good and bad for Manchester City. The good thing is that they are very familiar with Manchester United and do not have to fly to a strange city to adapt to a strange stadium for away games. The bad thing is that the timing is too coincidental. The 4rd round of the Premier League will start in early April, and Manchester City's opponent is Manchester United.

If we include the two rounds of the Champions League, that means three games in seven days, with the same two teams facing each other. This situation is so rare that even the script doesn't dare to write it this way.

"I thought about all our possible opponents, Barcelona, ​​Roma, Bayern, etc., but I never thought about Manchester United." Batistuta sat on the bench, zipped up his jacket to the top to cover most of his face, and complained in a muffled voice: "Playing against Manchester United three games in a row, my God, when I go to sleep at night and close my eyes, I will definitely see Manchester United players."

70 minutes ago, they arrived at Goodison Park to play against Everton. Considering the upcoming three games in a week, Guardiola made a large number of rotations in this game. Aguero, De Bruyne, Batistuta and other main players were put on the bench.

Lucas, who was sitting next to him, imagined the scene and shuddered uncontrollably.

"You scared me so much that I can't sleep, Batistuta." He raised his elbow to touch Batistuta, leaned over and whispered, "I don't think the manager will let us play in all three games. Think about it, we are leading the league by 3 points. If we win today's game, there are only 20 rounds left. Even if we lose the last 6 games and Manchester United wins them all, we are still the champions."

"No, the last round of matches was postponed to May," Barty touched his nose, "so we still have seven rounds left."

Lucas counted on his fingers. "It doesn't matter," he said. "We're going to win anyway, and we'll still have a 20-point advantage."

Batty thought about it and completely agreed with Lucas's opinion.

They are the most powerful team this season, of course they will win.

Then--

Manchester City was tied by Everton.

Facts have proved that the pre-match flag is really not advisable. Rooney, who transferred to Everton this season, is still in good shape. Near the end of the first half, a long shot from outside the penalty area helped the team take the lead.

Nearly 70 minutes into the second half, seeing that the situation was not going well, Guardiola replaced the team with De Bruyne and Batistuta in succession, and finally managed to equalize the game at the last minute, but it was a penalty kick that Batistuta got after falling in the penalty area.

After the game, there was much controversy among the media as to whether this penalty should be awarded.

不过比分是不会改变的了，曼城客场1-1战平埃弗顿。2小时后另一场英超比赛得出结果，曼联2-0战胜斯旺西，稳固英超第2的席位同时将他们和曼城的积分差距缩小到18分。

The suspense arises again.

There are 7 games left. If Manchester City loses all and Manchester United wins all, then the two teams will have the same points and the championship will be determined by the goal difference between the teams.

Of course, this just adds to the suspense of how big the dandruff is.

After all, Manchester City cannot lose all the games, and they also have a considerable advantage in goal difference.

But still—

"We could have won the championship seven rounds in advance." After the game, Barty knocked Lucas on the head, "Who made you a pessimist?"

Lucas:…

Lucas: I was wrong.

But think about it from another perspective, this is not a bad thing, as long as they beat Manchester United at home, their lead will reach 21 points, and they will get the trophy no matter what.

Moreover, is there anything more intoxicating for fans than defeating the derby opponents twice and celebrating the championship?

In response to this, the fans said: This is intentional (eating melon) (eating melon)
Of course, this only applies to the league. Before the second round of the Manchester derby, the two teams will first play the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals.

On April 4, Manchester City players arrived at Old Trafford by bus.

In view of the last brawl, Manchester City's bus had a hard time moving in front of the stadium. Crazy Manchester United fans almost blocked the road. Red smoke and flames were everywhere. Many people climbed up street lights and telephone poles to cheer for the home team and threw stones, eggs, and anything else they wanted to throw at the blue bus.

Through the dark one-way car sticker, Batty saw everything that happened outside. He leaned against the car window and took a selfie of himself and those unsuspecting fans and posted it on Instagram, with the caption:

"I like the atmosphere here and I believe our fans will have the same enthusiasm when we return to the Etihad Stadium."

In addition to mocking Manchester United's extreme fans, many people said that Batistuta's IG post was, to some extent, complaining about the attendance at Etihad Stadium.

In the attendance rankings of European clubs last season released by UEFA in mid-March, Manchester City ranked 3th with 98%. However, not long ago, The Sun published an article using police data to accuse Manchester City of falsifying data.

[The very beautiful "Etihad" is actually "Emptyhad". ] - The Sun

Of course, Batty didn't think that much.

……

[Hello, audience friends, welcome to watch the live broadcast of the first leg of the 2017-18 Champions League quarter-finals. Manchester United will face Manchester City at Old Trafford. This will be the 1th Manchester derby, but it will be the first Manchester derby in the Champions League. The two teams have never met in the Champions League knockout stage before. 】

Manchester City today has changed a lot from the last game. Guardiola fielded his most winning lineup this season. Except for Sterling's recent poor form and being replaced by Sane in the starting lineup, Gundogan received a yellow card in both rounds of the match against Basel. You know, in the Champions League, a cumulative three yellow cards will result in a one-game suspension, which will not be cleared until before the semi-finals.

To be on the safe side, Guardiola did not choose the German in the starting lineup.

In addition, Aguero will temporarily sit on the bench, and Jesus, who has recovered from injury, will replace him. This is the first time Jesus has started since his return in mid-February. Otamendi and captain Kompany will partner in the defense line, Walker on the right and Lucas on the left. In the midfield, D. Silva and De Bruyne are unshakable, and Fernandinho will play as the defensive midfielder.

Of course, there is also Batistuta, who jumps back and forth between the right and the middle and returns to the right today. In short, if you want to win, you have to use him.

For Manchester United, the starting lineup is the same as the match against Swansea in midweek.

I don't know if it's because they won 5 games in a row, but Manchester United played very actively at the start today. In less than 3 minutes, Augustus and Pogba completed a wonderful cooperation and sent the ball to the frontcourt. Fortunately, even though Kompany blocked it, Lingard failed to complete the shot.

In the locker room before the game, Guardiola took advantage of the last few minutes to find Batistuta and arrange his work in more detail, among which he mentioned Pogba and Augustus.

"Pogba's position has been moved up to attacking midfielder, but judging from previous matches, he is now more like a combination of midfield commander and porter. This is probably related to Augustus' position. Mourinho prefers Augustus, the defensive midfielder, to be the commander and hub.
He has good interception ability. If Pogba returns to defense, it will be difficult for Kevin to pass the ball out. You have to pay attention to this today. I don’t want you to keep an eye on him all the time, but you have to put pressure on him - if we lose the ball (possession) and don’t get it back within 6 seconds, you run back and stick to him to cut off his connection with the front court. ”

However, this time Mourinho also predicted Guardiola's prediction and adjusted the central axis of Augustus and Pogba in advance.

Augustus gave up most of the ball possession and passed the ball back or to Matic more often after getting it. Although this caused a certain degree of damage to their offense, it was able to disrupt Manchester City's defensive arrangement to the greatest extent.

For example, now Batistuta retreated to assist in defending Augustus as required, but ended up missing.

"Let me guess - Guardiola asked you to defend me, right? To stop me from passing the ball." Augustus, who had returned to a state without the ball, followed Batistuta and whispered, "Sorry, dear, I won't let you get your wish this time."

Batty rolled his eyes at him and said nothing.

"Jose saw through him completely. Your defense is terrible. Look at Fernandinho. The space behind him is big enough for a rabbit." Augustus continued, "We will be ahead before halftime. Jose said you can't keep your cool. Do you want to make a bet?"

Batty frowned fiercely. When did this annoying guy become such a chatterbox?

"Congratulations, it seems you have finally figured out a tactic other than parking the bus." He turned around and said sarcastically, "But what does this mean? Just talking to your opponent until he is dizzy and you have achieved your goal?"

"Maybe." Augustus said, "Whatever you say is right because I don't care." "We will win this game, and not just this one, but all the remaining games." "You are kidding me."

"Don't think it's impossible, dear. I will let Manchester United step on Manchester City to reach the top of Europe and win the championship. I swear."

Batty gave him a fake smile.

Instead of bragging here, it’s better to focus on the game.

"Go dream, that's faster." Batty observed the situation on the field, looked at the offside line and quietly moved backwards, "I'm waiting for you, I hope to see that day before I retire."

Before Augustus could pass the ball down, Manchester City launched an attack from the backcourt. Lucas made a long and accurate pass to the right. After receiving the ball, Batistuta quickly dribbled towards the Manchester United penalty area.
Walker also came up from the outside, forming a two-on-one situation in a small area. Ashley Young did not dare to rush forward and could only position himself and judge Battie's choice based on experience. Battie made a fake shot to deceive Ashley Young, easily passed the ball to Walker, and then quickly cut in from the ribs.

It was too late to intercept at this time. Walker made a triangle pass to Batistuta, who was not guarded, and shot directly!
De Gea was unable to save Manchester United's goal.

[The ball went in! ! In the 19th minute of the first half, Manchester City knocked on the door of their old rival in a way that did not fit their tactics. It was Batistuta again! Beautiful arc. The kid covered with spikes has grown into a reliable striker! ! Manchester United should be careful! ]

After scoring the goal, Batistuta did not look back at the field. He ran towards the fan area of ​​Old Trafford and made several "shut up" gestures imitating a duck's mouth.

Angry home fans almost overturned the stands.

"FUCK OFF!!"

"Rubbish! Get back!"

"Beat him up!"

This attack was nothing to Batistuta. In the half minute when he was carried up by the captain, he inadvertently glanced at the Manchester United midfielder and saw a Frenchman with a terribly gloomy face.

Tsk——

Batty curled his lips and said, "You deserved it. I called you nonsense."

……

The highlight of the first half was not just the goals. Near halftime, in the 44th minute, a conflict broke out between the two sides on a large scale.

Manchester United had the ball, with Smalling launching an attack from the backcourt. Lingard retreated on the right to support the defense. Lucas was a few seconds late and turned around to compete with him in speed. Sane and D. Silva came to assist in defense. Lingard was stuck and couldn't get rid of the position. During the fight for the ball, he failed to pass it well and it went out of the sideline.

Throw-in for Manchester United.

"Hey! Open your eyes and look! He kicked the ball himself!" Guardiola, who had watched the whole process nearby, waved his hands and complained loudly. At this moment, the ball boy behind him threw the ball, but it was not thrown well. Guardiola stretched his feet to stop for a moment, then picked up the ball and said to the linesman dissatisfiedly: "This should be our out-of-bounds ball!"

The linesman shook his head, saying that he saw clearly that the ball hit Sane's leg and went out of the sideline.

"This is ridiculous!" Guardiola was still dissatisfied, and simply threw the ball on the ground when Lingard came to ask for the ball.

This was very rude behavior. This is how he caused another national derby conflict many seasons ago. At that time, he was still in La Liga and was the head coach of Barcelona. The person he threw the ball at was Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Hey!"

Lingard is not a soft persimmon that can be bullied by others. He pushed Guardiola: "If the referee says it is our throw-in, then it is ours! There is no other possibility!"

To be honest, he was not very strong, and Guardiola did not even stagger backwards, but Lucas happened to see this action when he turned his head. The French defender's temper was as tough as his playing style, and he turned into a Gallic rooster and headed forward.

"You pushed our head coach!?"

Pogba and Augustus rushed to help, followed closely by Rojo.

"You want to fight?" Pogba showed no mercy to his French teammate whom he had never met before. "Why are you hitting him?!"

"Stay away from him, you bastard!" Seeing that the red color was gaining the upper hand, Batistuta ran across the entire field to defend his friend. He pushed away Pogba who was rushing in front and said, "Try to touch him if you dare!"

"I didn't start it!"

"Who the hell cares, I just saw you wanted to hit him!"

There was chaos near the sideline, and De Bruyne followed closely. He and Kompany squeezed into the middle to try to separate Batistuta and Pogba who were about to fight.

The referee arrived late.

"Stop!" He blew the whistle and opened his arms to block Batistuta and Pogba. "This is the court, gentlemen, go back!"

[——The referee resolved the conflict. Now the camera replays the throw-in. We can see that it was indeed the linesman's mistake. The ball did not hit Sane.] The commentator in the studio just explained the throw-in to the audience, and then the camera cut back to the center of the conflict. [The referee is about to take out a card. In this case, the best thing is to give a yellow card to each side. Wait, what? ? ?]

The players on the field gradually dispersed, and the referee took out a yellow card and gave it to -

De Bruyne.

"What did I do?" The Belgian's head was full of question marks. "You are wrong, sir! I didn't even touch a Manchester United player!"

Not only De Bruyne, but also Batistuta, Pogba, Lingard and Lucas who were about to fight were stunned. They never expected that he would get the yellow card.

"Hey, he was just passing by. I was the one who started the fight." Batty went to the referee. "If you want to give a yellow card, it should be me."

The referee ignored his statement, ran back to the center of the field with a determined attitude, and raised his hand to signal the game to continue.

Batty rolled his eyes toward the sky.

This referee must have been kicked in the head by a donkey.

……

There was little time left in the first half, and before either side could find a suitable offensive opportunity, the whistle for the end of the half sounded.

Batistuta smoothed the wet hair on his forehead and prepared to talk to their midfield general about the inexplicable yellow card. The camera was pointed at him and followed him all the way to the player tunnel.

Flip the lens.

The next second—

All the fans watching the game on TV witnessed the outburst of the team's most introverted player.

"Don't stop me, David. You saw it. That yellow card is clearly... Let me go. I have to make it clear! Even the referee - Let me talk!!"

(End of this chapter)