[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Three days later, on August 3, the men's football final of this Olympic Games kicked off at the Maracana Stadium. 8 minutes after the start of the game, buses loaded with players from both teams arrived at the stadium one after another.

At 17 p.m. local time, the winter sun was at its brightest, and the Monte Cristo adjacent to the stadium was covered in golden light, with the statue of Jesus overlooking all living beings.

18 hours ago, in the Maracanã Stadium next door, the Brazilian women's volleyball team was eliminated by the Chinese women's volleyball team and missed the semi-finals. The whole street was dead silent, and the Brazilian fans who always loved the bustle quietly disappeared into the darkness after the game.

The Brazilian players received the news while having breakfast in the morning. They understood that they must win the game this afternoon.

Of course, Batistuta was not affected at all. He always insisted on his opinion: it is too easy to beat a half-baked German team.

But he obviously forgot that he was also playing for a half-baked Brazilian team.

"——Perhaps the big win in the semi-finals gave Mikael confidence. Our head coach arranged a 424 offensive lineup. Neymar stabilized in the middle, Batistuta still came to his right side, while Barbosa and Jesus moved slightly back and appeared in the attacking midfielder position."

"Let's look at the German players again - opposite to Batistuta on the wing is Joshua Kimmich from Bayern Munich, who has a clean tackle and a hot temper. And Batistuta, our elf boy, has just been released from suspension."

“I believe these two players on the wing will definitely bring us exciting games, let’s wait and see!”

The on-site commentary was passionate and was not affected by the deafening cheers of the fans. It could be heard clearly in the player tunnel. Batistuta stood at the end of the team with a sour face.

Elf boy?

Batty hated the title.

In fact, he hated the nicknames people gave him, "Ronaldinho the Elf."

"Don't think too much, Barty, just focus on the game."

Due to the special nature of the game, Neymar was not allowed to enter the player tunnel, so the responsibility of taking care of Batistuta naturally fell on Neymar's shoulders. The captain came to Batistuta from the front, held the back of his head and let him touch his forehead.

"Look into my eyes, our goal is the gold medal," Neymar said. "I promise you, when we win the gold medal, no one will associate you with Ronaldinho anymore, you will surpass him."

Ronaldinho's achievements are remarkable in Brazilian and even world football. One Olympics will not allow Batistuta to shake his position. However, this statement still makes Batistuta feel much better.

"I know we will win, and we will win beautifully." Looking at the eyes so close, Barty blew the hair that was intertwined with theirs, "May victory be with us."

……

As Batistuta said, the result in the first half was surprisingly good.

13 minutes into the game, Neymar received a pass from Augusto and started the attack. After a wall pass with Batistuta, he dodged defender Ginter and shot. The goalkeeper was unable to save the ball and the ball brushed his fingertips and went into the net.

The German team was clearly in disarray.

Five minutes later, Brazil scored again, this time it was Batistuta who scored a goal. With a gorgeous turn and lob shot, the German defender made a mistake in clearing the ball, and Batistuta seized the opportunity and instantly ignited the whole stadium.

The two goals brought the Brazilian team's morale to an unprecedented high.

At the end of the first half, Brazil got a free kick in the frontcourt. The distance was not close, but the angle was great.

Batistuta is Santos' top penalty taker and set pieces from this position are almost part of his daily training.

Neymar came over with his hand covering his mouth: "Hey, Batistuta, do you want to try it?"

As the captain, he is responsible for inspiring his teammates, and conceding the ball is part of that. Although it was just a set piece, the attitude must be there.

But surprisingly——

"No, you come," Batistuta said. "This is your position. You scored the exact same goal against Real Sociedad."

Neymar was a little surprised: "Have you seen my game?"

"It's a highlight, but that's not important." Batistuta pushed Neymar to the penalty spot, "Go, don't make me regret this decision."

The Barcelona superstar did not disappoint him.

At 44 minutes and 45 seconds in the first half, the Brazilian team scored directly from a free kick.

3-0.
Is there anything more wonderful than this?

……

"Congratulations! Future gold medalists!"

With a bang, the players who returned to the locker room to rest at halftime had celebratory ribbons hanging on their heads. This was done by Neymar's followers.

They shouldn't have been in the locker room, but no one said anything because everyone was so happy. The score was 3-0 in the first half, so there was basically no suspense in this game.

Batty used two fingers to remove the red sequins stuck on his eyelashes, and looked at Loach not far away across the crowd, as if asking the other party why he didn't stop this from happening.

The black boy shrugged and gave a sly smile.

Batty immediately realized that Loach had no intention of stopping him.

Of course, the carnival gene is engraved in the blood of Brazilians and no one can take it away.

"Cheer up! Baby Batistuta! We are going to win!" Barbosa was jumping with Neymar by the neck. He hooked his finger at Batistuta, "Come on! Together! Let's celebrate in advance!"

Batista hesitated for a moment, then joined in the celebration when Neymar winked at him and gave him an encouraging smile. The head coach did not stop them because he was also celebrating with the coaching staff at the moment.

3-0, how could we lose?

……

But it seemed that God didn't want the Brazilians to win too easily. Just as the second half began, they suffered a series of blows.

In the 51st minute, the German team launched a blitzkrieg through the midfield.

Left back Kimmich switched to the right and took the ball all the way to the edge of the Brazilian penalty area. The Brazilian left back returned a little slowly, giving him space to cross the ball. With a precise cross, the German player waiting in the middle shot low into the net.

It was not a big problem, just one goal back. 3-1, they were still the champions.

However, just as the Brazilian fans were comforting themselves, the German team launched another attack.

This time it was still launched from the midfield. Augusto seemed to be distracted. The pass originally intended to be passed back to defender Marquinhos was weak and powerless. Kimmich seized the opportunity to step forward to steal the ball and made a long pass to find the German forward Gnabry in the frontcourt.

The gap was surprisingly large, and Gnabry even had space and time to adjust his shooting posture.

He took a powerful shot and the ball hit the post and bounced into the net.

3-2.
In just 5 minutes, the German team scored 2 goals, almost destroying their confidence.

The Brazilian team's originally high morale instantly fell to the bottom, and complaints were heard on the field.

"This is the nth time the ball has been intercepted! Where are our midfielders? Where have they gone?" Barbosa waved his hands and said loudly in annoyance. Then he pointed at someone and said, "Augusto! I'm talking to you! Didn't you bring your glasses today?"

"Why are you talking about me? I didn't see him coming at all! (Kimmich)" Augusto shrugged his shoulders and defended himself.

Barbossa widened his eyes and looked at Batti angrily. Batti thought the same as he did.

"You have no neck or something?" Batistuta said to Augusto from a distance, "Throw your head up and look back! You're a fucking midfielder!"

“Thank God someone still remembers that I’m a midfielder,” Augusto yelled as he ran. “No one’s passing the ball to me!”

In Batty's view, this is just passing the buck.

"Shut up!" Barbosa said immediately, "I went to the center line to fill your position! You can't expect us to defend in front of the goal. We are forwards! Not B2B!"*
Referee Yi had noticed them, but before he could do anything, Neymar rushed over.

"Stop making noise, do you want a yellow card?" Neymar said to Barbosa.

Then he went over and put his arms around Buddy's neck, ruffled his hair, and kissed his temples.

"Don't be angry, they won't be happy for long, we will win it back." He said in a soft voice, "We won't let the Germans take a medal from us again, right?"

Batistuta broke free from Neymar's grasp, took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and then looked up.

"We're going to win," Batty said firmly, "but he has to go off the court."

what?
Neymar was stunned.

He looked in the direction of Batistuta's gaze and saw Augusto, who was in poor form, shopping again. Neymar understood what Batistuta meant, but he had never seen such a practice before.

"That's not okay, Batistuta," Neymar whispered. "It's the coach's job to make substitutions. We have no right to interfere."

Batty's eyes were stubborn.

"He has to go down. If he doesn't go down, we will lose the ball." He said, "This is our shortcoming, our weakness. Why don't you understand?"

It's you who doesn't understand, Neymar thought helplessly.

Fortunately, Mikael also noticed this. Before his two attackers broke down, the Brazilian team made a substitution, with Oscar replacing Augusto.

Batistuta's mood improved a little, Neymar kissed his temple again, and then returned to the center.

However, this substitution did not have any effect. The morale-boosted Germans took the transition from offense to defense to the extreme. Even if Batistuta could get the ball, he had no room to operate - he could not raise his foot to shoot, let alone find a chance to pass to his teammates.

The Germans launched a counterattack.

Batistuta slowed down his pace and rested in his own half. He had a bad feeling that the game might last more than 90 minutes.

"Damn it--Bati! Go back to defense!" Mikael jumped up and down on the sidelines again, "Go back quickly! Quick!"

Batty pretended not to hear.

In the current situation, he returned to his own half without any help, and even reduced their counterattack power. If someone grabbed the ball and found an opportunity to pass it long, but there was no point to receive it, it would be bad.

not to mention--

He also has to save his energy for overtime.

But the head coach didn't care about that. When he saw Batistuta refused to return to defense, he was so angry that he started cursing on the sidelines.

But soon he had no time to condemn Batty.

Because their goal was lost again.

Entering the extra time, in the 93rd minute, there was a melee in front of the Brazilian team's goal. Someone kicked the ball and it bounced into the net!

This was a buzzer-beating goal for the German Olympic team, equalizing the game.

The commentator on the scene held his head and talked about the situation on the field in pain: "Oh no! Our defender kicked the ball into his own goal! Zeka gave the German team a goal! 3-3! Now we have to play overtime!"

But what's worse is that -

Their goalkeeper tore his thigh while trying to save the ball and was unable to continue.

Looking at the substitute goalkeeper Ederson who was ready to go into battle on the sidelines, Batistuta finally couldn't help but curse the Brazilian national quintessence.

"Droga."

(End of this chapter)