[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Manchester City maintained its lead until the end of the first half. In the 46th minute, at the end of injury time, the situation on the field changed, and this change was beyond the expectations of all Manchester City players.

Liverpool's attacking opportunity, Wijnaldum got the ball on the left and passed it to Firmino on the side. Firmino quickly adjusted and shot directly from the back post. Kompany accidentally fell to the ground while clearing the ball, and the ball hit his supporting hand. The referee stopped the game and then pointed to the penalty spot.

At the end of the first half, Liverpool was awarded a penalty.

When the referee blew the whistle, Batistuta had not yet crossed half court and he had no idea what was happening. About 3 or 5 seconds later, he saw his teammates surrounding the referee. Judging from the anxious and angry expressions on their faces, it was definitely not a good thing.

Batty frowned and walked towards his own half.

Then he saw the referee's finger pointing to the penalty spot.

Penalty kick?

Penalty kick! !
Why give a penalty back?

Batistuta opened his hands in disbelief: "What happened? Why was a penalty awarded?"

"Vincent handballed," De Bruyne explained. "Firmino was on the sideline, trying to hit the far corner, Vincent slipped and it hit him on the arm."

"So it's a penalty?" Batty said in surprise, brushing his hair. Lucas, who was putting pressure on the referee from the outside, saw him coming and waved his hand. Batty looked up at him and asked, "What happened just now? Where did the ball hit?"

"The captain wanted to slide to clear the ball, but he was half a body length faster than the guy. I guess he subconsciously put out his hand to support himself, but he didn't expect the ball to hit his upper arm." Lucas walked towards Batistuta and demonstrated the whole process of Kompany's handball to him as he walked.

"So, it's just bad luck?"

Lucas shrugged. "You could say that."

"It's ridiculous!" Batty's eyes widened after seeing Lucas' demonstration. He walked towards the referee angrily, "Hey! That was not an intentional handball at all. He fell down. What else do you want him to do?"

The referee stretched out his hand to stop Batistuta from approaching, "I have my judgment, go back and do your job." After that, he turned his head and signaled the Liverpool players to prepare for the penalty kick.

"You can't punish an unconscious action! Everyone reacts this way when they fall!" Batty insisted, "Aren't you too biased towards them?"

The referee stopped.

"You are questioning my professional ethics, which is a serious accusation."

Before Batistuta could continue his rant against the most powerful man on the pitch, Kompany and Walker pulled him away, and D. Silva took over the finishing touches, assuring the referee that Batistuta would not raise any further questions.

"It's good that he didn't get a yellow card." Kompany whispered to Batistuta, "Don't panic, it's just a penalty, it can't be counted yet, give it to Ederson, trust him."

It can only be the.

Batty took a deep breath and nodded to the captain, indicating that he was fine.

"Hopefully he can save this one."

Mane took the penalty kick, the Senegalese striker came to the penalty spot with the ball, Ederson opened his arms and did jumping jacks to confuse his opponent, Batistuta and others crowded outside the penalty area, ready to rush in to clear the ball at any time.

[beep——]
Run-up, shoot!
Ederson pounces!
The excitement in Batistuta's heart rushed from his stomach to his throat, but then a bucket of cold water was poured down on him. Although Mane's penalty was saved, Ederson failed to control the ball, and Firmino rushed over like a rocket and kicked the ball into the goal.

The referee said no problem, 1-1! Liverpool equalized the score before the end of the first half!

……

The opponent equalized the game, and the atmosphere in the locker room during the half-time break was imaginable. Everyone was angry with the referee.

"First Kyle got a yellow card, then there was a penalty. Why didn't the referee just give Liverpool the win?" Batistuta was as aggressive as if he had been bombarded. He violently removed the bandage on his calf and then took the sports drink with a very large movement. He usually didn't drink that stuff. "Is there any taste worse than this? Curse you!"

"Don't, Batistuta, don't be like this." As the captain and soul of the team, Kompany gently comforted Batistuta, "We have encountered worse situations than this. Don't lose control, we still have the second half."

“Yes, our passing was not smooth enough in the first half, which allowed the opponent to seize the opportunity.” Fernandinho echoed, “We should do better and show our control from the first second!”

Batistuta wanted to say something more, but De Bruyne handed him a dry towel and signaled with his eyes that he should not let the quarrel become the theme of the halftime break. Batistuta is a very opinionated person and does not always listen to De Bruyne, but today, at this moment, he looked into his eyes and decided to follow this advice.

The most troublesome one stopped, and the atmosphere in the locker room gradually changed from hot to quiet, the kind of quiet that made people feel uneasy.

'This is not the performance of a championship-winning team,' Batty thought.

The appearance of Guardiola changed the unpleasant atmosphere in the locker room. He has that kind of magic. When he starts to speak, he can make everyone focus on him and concentrate on following his ideas.

This is what Cruyff values, the midfield brain that created the Dream II Barcelona.

"There is only one team like this in the Champions League, everyone. There is only one team like this! If we surpass them, we will be the champions! The Champions League title that Manchester City has never won!" Guardiola said excitedly to the entire locker room, "In the second half, just think about the result and don't think about anything else. That's not your job!"

Batistuta took off the towel covering his head, and the moment his vision returned to normal, he met Guardiola's eyes.

As usual, it was a look full of trust, without any complaints, just trust in him, in his own judgment and choices.

His heartbeats suddenly overlapped at that moment. He didn't know how to describe this feeling, but he knew clearly that it was exactly the same as when he gained the favor of Bloodhound, the gangster boss in the slums, and when he gained the inexplicable preference of his godfather Edmundo.

"The team next door, the only team that could counterattack us, they were up front, they were fast-breaking, they were breaking through our defense, and they were scoring goals. I don't know why, they were able to score so many goals with half a team, you know it, guys."

Guardiola shifted his gaze to Sterling and Walker who were sitting on the bench opposite him, and spoke again: "Champions League - they have persisted for a long time, they can do it (win the championship), believe me, it has been a year, we have been preparing for this day for a whole year, today, just one more step forward, a small step, we can touch the trophy! We will create our own history!"

Batty lowered his head, and half a minute later he took out his mobile phone from the cabinet. The desktop pattern was still the image of Jesus. He stared at Jesus' divine face for a while, and then the screen went black, and his familiar face was reflected in the center of the screen.

“I love making history,” he heard himself say.

……

In the second half, both sides were equally motivated. It seemed that not only Manchester City, but also Liverpool were motivated by Klopp during the halftime break. Both sides fought hard on the left side of the midfield, and people and horses were thrown to the ground wherever they went. In the end, D Silva picked up the ball with a kick and cooperated with Batistuta who was retreating to get the ball out.

good chance.

Liverpool's defense moved forward, creating a huge gap between Van Dijk and Arnold. Batistuta dribbled forward, and the central defender didn't dare to rush forward. The job of intercepting was handed over to Henderson. The situation was a bit similar to that of Walker in the first half. Letting Batistuta in would be a threatening ball, but knocking Batistuta down would result in a card.

Henderson chose to block Batistuta's passing route with his back to the goal.

Unexpectedly, Batistuta stopped and chose to shoot directly!
Unfortunately, the angle was too straight, and Mignolet lifted the ball out of the baseline with one hand, resulting in a corner kick.

I don't know since when, set pieces have become Manchester City's main source of points. Since they scored the first goal in the first half in this way, the entire Liverpool team paid 12 points of attention.

"Watch them!" Henderson instructed Van Dijk to stop the Manchester City captain, while he himself was entangled with Batistuta, "Don't even think about getting over there, kid! We've got the trophy!"

Batty imitated his expression when he spoke and exaggerated it, and finally stuck out his tongue and made a face at Henderson. It was childish, but also very sarcastic on the court.

Henderson ignored him and concentrated on judging the landing point of De Bruyne's corner kick.

The Belgian midfielder kicked the ball to the front point, Mignolet rushed out and punched the ball out with both fists. The ball flew across half court and Ederson came up. The Brazilian's control at this time helped Manchester City take the situation back.

"Bati!"

Ederson kicked the ball back to the frontcourt. Batistuta understood what he meant and shook off Henderson and made a perfect stop facing the corner flag. Robertson came up to defend closely and did not give him a chance to turn around. Batistuta could only pass the ball back to Walker.

Walker made a high cross.

Robertson's defensive attention shifted from Batistuta to the front of the goal, which gave Batistuta the opportunity to turn around and distance himself. There was another melee in front of the goal. Kompany got the ball, but he was too close to the goalkeeper and was easily blocked. At that moment, the Manchester City captain headed the ball back to Batistuta on the right.

"It's time to fight!"

Batty shot directly without stopping the ball!
'Oops! '

The moment Batistuta touched the ball, it felt like his heart was clenched tightly and he kicked it wrong!
This ball won't go into the goal!
"Damn it! Who, who can appear in that position, please!"

As if Batistuta's thoughts were heard, just as the ball was about to hit the post and slide out of the goal, Lucas came out from the back post and the French defender used a skiing move to send the ball and himself into Liverpool's goal.

At that moment, Batty felt comfortable all over.

2-1!

In the 65th minute of the second half, Manchester City took the lead!

"YES!"
Guardiola on the sidelines jumped up excitedly again, waved his fist, and ran to the bench in an exaggerated manner to celebrate with everyone.

Batistuta was the first to rush forward. "Jesus, how did you end up in that position, Luki? I almost thought the ball was going to be lost! It was so beautiful!"

Lucas, who had just climbed out of the goal, was almost tackled. He took a few steps back to steady his body, then reached out and grabbed Batistuta's butt to prevent him from falling.

"I guessed that you were going to miss the ball!" Lucas smiled so hard that only his two rows of big white teeth could be seen.

"This is your first goal after joining the team, right?" Batistuta ignored the teasing and ruffled his hair. "I told you I would help you score a goal. It's a pity that we didn't think of a celebration before the game, otherwise it would definitely be a classic!"

"Maybe next year!" Lucas kissed Batty on the nose and then let him go. "Come on guys! Just one step!"

There are still 10 minutes left.

Impatience took over the hearts of Liverpool players, which led to a huge loophole in their defense. Batistuta quietly cut in from the right to the middle. Van Dijk and Robertson's attention was all on Aguero, and no one stepped forward to defend Batistuta. Lovren returned from the left, took a look at the situation in front of the goal, and actually went forward to fight for the ball with confidence.

God knows Batistuta was prepared to be attacked by the defensive player.

what is this?
This is a great opportunity given by God.

"This way!"

D Silva passed the ball to De Bruyne, who had already noticed that Liverpool's central defense had left a man out, and he made a direct cross from the right side of the midfield!

Batistuta turned his back to the goal and watched the ball grow bigger and bigger.

He suddenly thought of the game video he and Kevin watched in bed last night, and Ronaldo's amazing overhead kick that made Zidane couldn't believe his eyes.

How is it done?

Batty took a half step back and raised his foot as he was about to fall.

Unable to see the goal, he constructed a scene of the goal behind him in his mind. This time, when his foot touched the ball, there was no "bad" feeling. It was a very natural and smooth shot.

Manchester City fans in the stands couldn't help but stand up, their hearts were completely gripped. As if in slow motion, the white ball started from Batistuta's inverted feet, drew a beautiful and smooth arc, and slowly flew towards the goal.

Batistuta's ears were filled with noise and he fell to the grass. Although he couldn't see, he knew that his goal had gone in.

The last minute of the game.

Manchester City's Brazilian Rose killed the game with an overhead kick.

His first overhead kick after arriving in Europe was dedicated to Manchester City's first Champions League title.

3-1!

Liverpool is powerless to turn the tide!
(End of this chapter)