[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Atletico Madrid is a very special team. Fans who often watch La Liga games and hang out on forums would comment on it like this: They are the kind of team that will pull you to the same level as them, and then use their rich experience to beat you.

Since Diego Simeone took over the team in the middle of the 10-11 season, the "bandit coach" has been transforming the team bit by bit in his own way. In just three seasons, he has brought Atletico from a mid-level team to the ranks of today's top clubs.

To be honest, Atletico's style of play can be considered novel in European football. Simply put, it can be roughly summarized as defensive counterattack, but anyone who has watched Atletico play can feel the difference between this team's tactics and defensive counterattack.

Some people tease them: They become strong when facing a strong opponent, and become weak when facing a weak opponent.

This is not false at all.

In a way, Simeone and Mourinho are similar in coaching. They both like players who are aggressive and dare to fight and commit fouls on the court.

A team like Manchester City, which focuses on passing and controlling the ball, will find it particularly difficult to play against Atletico Madrid, which plays an aggressive style that emphasizes destruction.

Nearly 20 minutes into the game, the tempo of the game gradually slowed down. Apart from the corner kick caused by Batistuta bringing the ball to the baseline and being brought down by Griezmann, neither side had any good opportunities.

Due to the fierce competition, there were always out-of-bounds balls. The game was not coherent in the first 20 minutes. It can be seen that Simeone made key arrangements for Manchester City's two flanks.
When Manchester City's midfielders get the ball (De Bruyne, Fernandes), Atletico will not block them too much. They will block possible passing points in the frontcourt. This means that no matter whether Batistuta or Neymar get the ball, or Aguero retreats to receive the ball, there will always be at least 3 defensive players quickly surrounding them.

In the 29th minute, Ederson walked out of the penalty area and made a long pass. Batistuta was annoyed by the defense and when he jumped up to fight for the ball, he secretly pushed Atletico's left-back Lodi with a small move.

The ball was indeed successfully unloaded, but the referee's whistle also sounded.

Batistuta committed an offensive foul and the ball was given to Atletico Madrid.

"Pay attention, that kind of action is illegal." The referee verbally warned Batty, "I've made a note of it. If you do it a few more times, I'll show you a yellow card. Do you understand?"

What the hell.

Batistuta cursed in his heart and at the same time he put on a well-behaved expression and nodded to the referee. The referee was from Bosnia and Herzegovina and was not familiar with Batistuta's style on the court, so his innocent face played an important role again.

As soon as the referee left, Batty rolled his eyes at his back.

'That move can be ignored,' he thought. In the Premier League, the referees wouldn't even look at it.

Atletico Madrid kicked off, Lodi made a long pass to the midfield, and the two sides started fighting again outside Manchester City's penalty area. Guardiola stood up from his seat and shouted at the field to mobilize the players. Batistuta shook off the bad complaints in his mind and continued to devote himself to the game.

It's just that they are temporarily unable to break the deadlock, Batty thought. They have experienced this many times, so it's not a big problem.

Of course, it’s really not a big problem.

It is difficult for Atletico Madrid to avoid mistakes with such a crazy tactic, and once this mistake is caught by Manchester City, especially by De Bruyne and Batistuta, it will be devastating, such as this -

In the 33rd minute, Atletico Madrid midfielders Rodri and Saul made a mistake in cooperation and were intercepted by Fernandinho, who passed the ball directly to De Bruyne in front of him. De Bruyne made a low arc ball that accurately passed Savic and landed at Batistuta's feet.
At this time, Atletico's defense line was not fully in place. Batistuta dribbled the ball at high speed on the right, Lodi was seriously out of position, and Godin came over to defend Batistuta one-on-one.

Godin is not an orthodox full-back, so Batistuta tried to play a trick. He lowered his shoulder to the right and then quickly switched to the left, while making several consecutive dribbles with his feet. The Uruguayan defender was almost turned into Boateng, and Batistuta successfully broke through the goal.

Looking at Aguero following up in the middle and Neymar at the back post, he decisively chose to shoot with his left foot.

[Goalkeeper Oblak comes out! Shoot! Hey - Godin, he is worthy of being the backbone of Atletico's defense. He can complete the defense even if he falls to the ground. Under his interference, Batistuta's left foot shot is too high. ]

Batistuta used his left foot less frequently than his right foot. He watched himself hit the ball high, then lost his balance and fell backwards on the grass, his sight shifting from the goal and the fans behind the goal to the headlights above the stadium.

damn it!
He should press a little harder, Batistuta thought at the moment his back touched the ground, or he should dribble again, change his action and make it look like Godin was committing a foul, then maybe he would get a valuable penalty.

In fact, not dunking the ball would have made it look like Godin had fouled him.

In those short 2 seconds, Batty made a quick decision. He fell to the ground, hugged his right leg and showed his injury in an exaggerated manner, even though it didn't hurt at all.

'Come on, referee,' he thought, 'that guy touched my calf and knocked me down, which is not right in the penalty area.'

Batty even thought about how to talk to the referee and what expression he would use.

however--

[Wait! This ball is not over yet! It went in! Haha! Oh my god - Oblak didn't expect this at all, he thought the ball would go out of bounds! Batistuta's shot must have hit the crossbar and bounced straight up, and when the Atletico goalkeeper turned around and wanted to catch the ball, the ball just fell and bounced into the net! ] The commentator said happily, [Atletico's restriction on Manchester City seemed to have worked in the first ten minutes of the game, but who would have thought that just a small coordination error would lead to such a magical goal, 1-0! Manchester City is leading! ]

Of course the commentary could not be heard live, so when the audience in front of the TV understood the whole process through the replays and commentary and laughed, Barty was still lying there, having not come to his senses.

It's strange. Normally, if he was injured and fell to the ground, people would have gathered around him. Batty frowned slightly and wondered what happened today?
Then--

Then he heard the announcement from the scene.

[Manchester City 1, Atletico Madrid 0]
Batty: ???
Then he heard the celebrations and jeers from his teammates.

Then the audience saw a rare scene (of course it happens often on the court), where several Manchester City attackers in the frontcourt gathered towards the Atletico Madrid goal, and Batistuta, who had just been holding his calf in pain, suddenly bounced up, and before he could ask clearly, he was held in the middle.

The broadcast camera was pointed at Batistuta at the perfect time, and the boy's surprised and annoyed expression was perfectly displayed. In less than 3 minutes, some people in the forum started to use this screenshot to make emoticons.

Of course, a meme that would later go viral on social media was also gradually taking shape.

Someone captured the image of Batty holding his calf and quickly standing up, which took less than 1 second, and added a few big words below it:

"Medical Miracles"

……

Battie finally broke free from the suffocating embrace of his teammates. With Nick Young's puzzled expression, he asked three soul-searching questions: "It went in? How did it go in? Who did it?"

After a pause, he asked another question: "Was it a supplementary shot?"

"No! It's you!" Aguero laughed and rubbed Batistuta's hair hard to make it look like a bird's nest. "Silly boy, it was you who scored the goal! You didn't even know it!"

really?
Batistuta looked at Aguero in disbelief.

"But I clearly saw that I hit it too high," he said. "Why, did God himself push it in for me with his hand?"

"No, you scored." De Bruyne smiled and took over the conversation, "Your shot was a bit high, but the ball fell and bounced back in. The goalkeeper came out too early and couldn't stop it at all."

"You only hit it a little bit high! The ball flew up and fell down, just crossing the line!" Neymar also came over and said, he snatched Batistuta from under Aguero's arm and gave him a big hug, "You are such a genius, a goal like this would not have been successful if the force was bigger or smaller, and the angle was off or more accurate!"

Batistuta was a little confused by the two languages ​​being spoken almost simultaneously, but the joy of scoring quickly diluted those negative emotions. Aguero touched Neymar's arm, suggesting that he seize the opportunity, and the two worked together to lift Batistuta up.

It was at this moment that Batistuta would temporarily forget that he was still angry, Neymar thought to himself, and then he deliberately led the ball towards De Bruyne in a demonstrative manner.

Strangely, the Belgian midfielder did not give the reaction that Neymar expected, as if everything had returned to the season when Batistuta first arrived at Manchester City. The Belgian celebrated the goal politely, turned around and returned to his position before others.

So Batty's attention was drawn to it.

Even when Neymar put him down and everyone dispersed and Manchester City was about to kick off from the center circle, Batistuta's eyes would still glance towards the midfield from time to time.

Neymar was instantly annoyed.

"No, don't think about this on the field." Aguero patted his shoulder, raised his hand to cover his mouth and said quickly: "Go back to your position, the trophy is the most important. If you score a goal later, I guarantee that the little bastard will not be able to take his eyes off you."

……

Manchester City extended the lead to 2-0 near the end of the first half, but it was a pity that the goal was not scored by Neymar. It was a counterattack opportunity for Atletico Madrid. Griezmann dribbled the ball from the midfield to the penalty area, but his final kick was not very good, and Ederson got the ball directly, and then kicked the ball quickly. Aguero won the header, turned around and got rid of Godin from the right side of the penalty area and shot from a small angle to score.

With a two-goal advantage, Manchester City easily won the first half.

Neymar didn't get to wait for Batistuta's active greeting. The little bastard was still resentful of him for pushing him into the bathroom that day. Several times, Neymar saw that the other party was going to subconsciously give him water, but he turned a corner and handed the bottle to Walker who happened to pass by.

Oh, so annoying.

Neymar was a little discouraged. It was fun to be upset occasionally, but... damn it, he thought that his relationship with Batistuta would rise rapidly like a rocket after coming to Manchester City, but the little bastard was too vindictive. Neymar was really at a loss.

Let's wait until the game is over, the Brazilian thought. Then he will have a good talk with Batistuta no matter who stops him.

However, before the game was over, the situation on the field changed suddenly in the 75th minute of the second half. Atletico Madrid equalized the score with two goals in 6 minutes by Griezmann and Diego Costa.

[Atletico Madrid's tenacity deserves respect! Even though everyone was not optimistic about them and thought they would lose, the players were still fighting tirelessly at the end of the game, and finally! It paid off!] The commentator exclaimed, [2-2! Manchester City should be careful! If the score is still this at the 90th minute, the two sides will enter overtime. I believe some Manchester City players on the field still have a bad impression of overtime.]

Yes, Batty looked horribly bad.

Of those two goals conceded, if the first one was an opportunity created by Atletico Madrid, then the second one was entirely a goal given to the opponent due to their defensive mistake.

Stones looked extremely remorseful, but that was no reason to escape the blame. Batistuta endured it and did not get excited about opening the microphone with him, but it was not because the other party was also sad, but because there was no time.

In the 89th minute of the game, almost all Atletico players were on defense, changing from a 442 formation to a 550 formation, as if they were determined to drag Manchester City into overtime.

After his attack was once again disrupted by the short guy running all over the field on the opposite side, Batty slammed the grass hard and cursed at the green field.

Damn it, overtime, why is it always overtime, he thought, can't the game be resolved in regular time and then celebrate properly.

In the emergency moment, Neymar stepped forward and fulfilled Batistuta's wish.

Four minutes of injury time were given.

Just as the referee was about to blow the whistle to end the regular time game and announce the start of overtime after Manchester City's last wave of attack, Neymar miraculously shook off Juan Fran's defense and came to the baseline. He was seen kicking the ball with his right foot.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Oblak was extremely nervous, ready to block the possible receiving point of the cross at any time. However, Neymar did not choose to cross, and the ball spun towards the upper right corner of the goal.

'Oops! ’

Oblak felt a chill in his heart, and when he turned around and saw the ball rushing into the net, the crazy celebration of Manchester City players also reached his ears.

[Lore! Neymar scored a wonderful goal from a small angle to win the game! This was his first goal since joining Manchester City! His performance was perfect! - The game is over! No extra time! 3-2! Manchester City won the 2018 European Super Cup! ]

Neymar took off his jersey excitedly, waved it in his hand and ran towards the stands to share the joy of the winning goal with the Manchester City fans who came from afar.

"See? I scored!" He turned to face the court with his arms open, ready to welcome Batistuta who was rushing towards him. "No overtime! The trophy is ours, we are the champions!"

"It's so beautiful, your goal is so beautiful!" This is the first time Batistuta used the word 'beautiful' to describe a goal. He gave Neymar a tight hug, then held his face and kissed his forehead, "Thank God! At least this year I don't want to play overtime!"

God?

No, no, no, that ball has nothing to do with God, Neymar thought proudly.

Of course, this thought only lasted for a few seconds. By the time Batty pulled him to celebrate and he was waiting for the staff to set up the podium before going on stage to receive the award, he had already repented dozens of times in his heart.

As Aguero said.

After Neymar scored a wonderful goal and dramatically won the game, Batistuta never took his eyes off him.

Standing on the podium, Kompany was the first to lift the trophy, and then he handed the trophy to Neymar who contributed the winning goal. Neymar thought about it, then pulled Batistuta, one of them lifting the trophy at a time.

Batty didn't look angry at all.

So while passing the trophy to the next person, Neymar hooked Batistuta's neck and kissed him on the side of his face, then whispered: "We are fine now, right?"

Batty offered no resistance, neither his arms nor his kisses.

"Are we busy?" The young man asked arrogantly and critically, "I have no recollection. Tell me about it. Maybe I can remember it."

profound--
That's okay.

"I don't remember either." Neymar smiled and waved to celebrate the sixth championship of the season with everyone. "In that case, Batistuta, would you like to join me on the bus later? I found a lot of good songs."

Batty didn't refuse.

……

On the bus, Neymar was humming a song and playing with Batistuta's hair. The boy was resting his head on his legs and playing with his mobile phone. It seemed that he was chatting with his friend from the East again.

While Batistuta wasn't paying attention, he secretly glanced at De Bruyne behind him. The Belgian midfielder still looked calm and composed, as if he didn't notice anything heartwarming happening here.

Humph, Neymar snorted in his heart.

What's the use of pretending to be profound? It's useless. He thought about reaching into Barty's hair and gently pressing his scalp, and successfully heard the other party's comfortable gurgling sound.

This time he won.

De Bruyne calmly turned a page of the e-book, looked at the content on it, and blurted out a passage: A successful hunter cannot be impatient, but must be patient and wait for the prey to let down its guard and walk into the trap on its own.

Yes, no rush.

They have plenty of time.

At the same time, without the two guys who were still competing privately noticing, Batty's ig received a new follow and a private message chat from the new follow.

Anto Griezmann: Hey Batistuta! I received an offer from Manchester United. The conditions offered by Augustus are really tempting, but I still want to go to Barcelona. You and I are both the best players in football right now. Do you have any good suggestions?
Antoine Griezmann: (Laughter) (Laughter) (Applause) (Eyes)
Antoine Griezmann: [Selfie]
Antoine Griezmann: By the way, I like your hair color. What do you think if I dye it your color? Wouldn’t it be charming?

This guy...why does he look like he's very familiar with him?

Looking at the messages that kept appearing on his phone (and the subsequent multi-angle selfies), Batty narrowed his eyes.

interesting.

His fingertips paused, and Batty bit his lip and slowly typed out his pertinent suggestions.

Batty: My hair color is natural, of course it looks good.
Batty: Do you want to join the light-haired family? Maybe
Batty: (smirk) (fireworks)
Batistuta: By the way, Manchester United is good
Batistuta: Barcelona has Messi, why did you go there? To check out the water dispenser?
Batty: Or do you just want the nostalgia, the dreams of Ersa and so on?
After all, we are on the way back and have nothing to do. Chatting with the magical opponent to kill time is also a good choice.

As for the transfer proposal:

That was just a tease, a joke, Griezmann wouldn't take it seriously, Batistuta thought, and then he continued chatting with the other party for fun, and went further and further on the question of Manchester United or Barcelona.

He believed deep down that Griezmann would not take his joke seriously, but as for what Griezmann thought, that was another matter.

(End of this chapter)