[Football] Bad Boy Batty

On the sidelines, the team doctor disinfected Batty's wound, sprayed it with painkillers, and finally put an ultra-thin large band-aid on it.

The administrator brought him a new jersey, Battie put it on and tried to jump on the spot.

"It doesn't feel good." He said, "Take it off. It will affect your performance."

The team doctor had no choice but to take off the Band-Aid.

At this time, the referee and the linesman finished their communication and brought Theo, the person involved, to the sidelines.

"I'm clear about the situation. No yellow card, no." He first said to Batistuta, and then to Theo: "That action was too much. Whether you did it intentionally or not, if you do it again, I will show you a yellow card warning, understand?"

This result is not very good, but it is acceptable.

"I'm sorry." Theo walked up and patted Batty on the shoulder as a friendly gesture.

Batty was angry but couldn't vent it, he rolled his eyes and gave Theo a small hug, "It's okay," he said, I'll let you have a taste later, Batty thought.

The referee was very satisfied with the situation. Finally, he asked about Batistuta's injury and whether he could continue. After getting a positive answer, he took the two players back to the court and used gestures to tell the players on both sides to get ready.

[beep——]
The whistle blew and the game continued.

……

Under Manchester City's net-style passing control, it was difficult for Manchester United to pass through the midfield on the ground, but Mourinho on the sidelines remained calm, and similarly, his disciples on the field were not in a hurry either.

Batistuta followed his teammates down the wing and, while in control of the ball in the backcourt, he quickly glanced at the opponent's head coach.

It feels a bit weird, as if they are holding back on some tricks.

“Bati!!”

"Go up, go up!"

"there!"

Manchester City's attack is coming again.

Fernandinho intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and advanced. He and David Silva cooperated on the left, successfully attracted the focus of Manchester United's defense, and then quickly transferred the ball to the right through Aguero and De Bruyne.

[Look at this time! Batistuta has the ball, does he have a chance? He passes it back, and De Bruyne follows up with a long shot! De Gea blocks the ball. ] The commentator said with some regret, [In that position just now, (Bati) could have tried to do it himself, there was enough space, and maybe the effect would have been better. ]

[Bati is not as independent as before, with a stronger sense of teamwork, which is more in line with Guardiola's requirements. Just now, he could lead the ball by himself, but it was not easy. Manchester United deliberately adjusted the formation to limit his penetration of the two ribs. If he leads the ball by himself, 4 or 5 people will rush at him at once, and it will be difficult not to be intercepted - Oh! Look at this time! Manchester United's counterattack! ]

Just as the commentator was analyzing the situation, De Gea saved De Bruyne's long shot, and Maguire immediately cleared the ball with a long kick, but his clearance was too high and not far, and Kompany followed up to grab it and moved to the left to prepare for a second attack.

But he and Neymar did not expect to go together, the ball was passed behind Neymar, and it was too late for him to turn around and receive the ball. Augustus intercepted the ball and passed it directly to Pogba, who advanced at high speed, and Manchester United entered their favorite counterattack rhythm.

“Go back! Go back!”

"Luki!"

"Oleg! (Zinchenko)"

Lucas and Zinchenko chased back hard, but Pogba did not intend to confront his French fellow countryman. He pushed hard with his feet and passed the ball to Lingard. Lingard dribbled the ball in the middle, and Manchester City did not have the advantage in the backcourt.

[Although Lingard has not been in good form in recent games, he seems to have recovered in the derby. ]

Seeing Zinchenko catching up, Lingard chose to pass the ball straight, Rashford took two steps to bring the ball into the penalty area, and Lucas came from the side, moving very carefully.

You have to be careful when you enter the penalty area, it would be bad if you get hit by an arm or if a penalty is given somewhere.

【Look at this time! 】

At the critical moment, the goalkeeper came out.

Rashford was not in a good position, he hesitated and did not shoot immediately, which gave Manchester City a chance. Ederson fell to the ground and saved the ball at the risk of a "collision" with Rashford.

The England striker jumped over the goalkeeper and then fell heavily to the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Manchester City did not dare to make any mistakes. Kompany passed the ball back to the midfield, and De Bruyne turned around and passed the ball to Batistuta in front.

There was a chorus of boos at Dream Theater.

Batistuta did not act immediately. He stopped the ball at his feet and looked at the penalty area. Rashford had not yet gotten up and looked seriously injured. He had also fallen over the goalkeeper like this before, so he knew that Rashford's pain was not fake.
Half a second later, Batty kicked the ball out of bounds.

The referee suspended the game, Ederson came forward to ask about Rashford's condition, and Manchester United's team doctor quickly came up. Taking advantage of this time, Guardiola took the time to assign tasks to Neymar.

Not long after, before the game resumed, the head coach's instructions were passed through layers of channels and reached Batistuta's ears.

"Pep asked you to push forward," De Bruyne said quickly, "The pressure on their backcourt is not enough. If you go up, Theo will go back."

"Still moving forward?" Batty shook his hands, "Are you completely giving up defense?"

"Yeah, that's what Pep meant," De Bruyne said. "Don't worry, I'm here."

Okay, Batty nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"No more." De Bruyne quickly hugged him, "Go."

Batistuta returned to the wing and communicated with Kyle Walker near the midfield about the coach's intentions, communicating with each other in advance to avoid a situation where the two of them were not expected to be together again.

Looking at the light-colored figure over there, De Bruyne's eyes flickered.

Yes, he lied.

In addition to the head coach's instructions, the messages that came over also included Neymar's inquiries about Batistuta's situation. When Batistuta was injured, he was entangled with Augustus and did not have time to rush over.

But it's not a big problem.

De Bruyne looked towards the left, and sure enough, Neymar noticed the big trouble on his communication road, and a warning look followed him. The Belgian midfielder acted indifferent.

It's one thing for me not to go against you for the sake of the team, but it's another thing to trip you up over such a small matter.

Neymar could only worry over there.

Soon the referee returned to the field, Rashford was not in any trouble, and Manchester United kicked the ball out of bounds. In view of the fact that Manchester City had just suspended the game for humanitarian reasons, Manchester United chose to reciprocate and gave the ball back to Manchester City.

Ederson held the ball and observed it for a few seconds, then threw it to Zinchenko on the left.

Both sides returned to fight again.

……

Halfway through the first half, Manchester United gradually let go. Once they passed the center line, the whole team pressed forward, using high-pressure defense to limit Manchester City's short passes.

If short passes cannot penetrate, we can only play more long passes, but too many long passes will easily lead to mistakes.

Mourinho's strategy soon began to work.

In the 25th minute, De Bruyne and Aguero made a mistake in passing the ball, Manchester United midfielder intercepted the ball, Augustus passed it directly to Rashford. Perhaps because he had just rushed into the penalty area and fell too deeply, Rashford did not continue to advance, he chose to shoot on the spot.

[This is a good shot! It almost hit the crossbar and flew out of bounds. Manchester City should be careful.] The commentator analyzed, [Guardiola absorbed the play of Barcelona and Bayern to create the current Manchester City, combining the advantages of passing and controlling and high pressure, but you should also pay attention. If you press too high, it will be difficult to get back. Once you lose the ball, it will be difficult to chase. Fernandinho and Kompany are getting old, so leave it to Lucas and Zinchenko. They still have more offensive tasks on their shoulders.]

"Pay attention, guys!" Kompany clapped his hands and said to everyone, "Cheer up and don't let the opponent take advantage of the opportunity!"

……

Continuous pressure allowed Manchester United to get the first corner kick after the opening. In the 33rd minute, Sanchez took the penalty.

In terms of height, Manchester United has the upper hand, so Manchester City must be extra careful when defending corner kicks. Players like Pogba, Maguire, Augustus, and Theo are all high points where they can score headers.

"Over there! Over there!"

"Luki!" The red and blue teams huddled together in front of the goal. Batistuta was also there. Although he was not much compared to the defenders, he was considered tall in Manchester City and he always participated in the set-piece defense training.

"Move forward." Batty pushed Lucas, "You're almost letting your opponent get in front of you!"

This is an opportunity.

what chance?
Of course, it's an opportunity for a little revenge.

Sanchez took a corner kick, Batistuta blocked the position to prevent Theo from jumping and shaking his head easily, then taking advantage of the hands and feet everywhere in the penalty area, he pinched Theo's waist secretly along the natural swing of his arms.

"Hey!" Theo lost his balance and staggered back two steps.

Augustus got the first header, but he didn't have enough strength and Kompany cleared the ball. Manchester United's attack came to an end.

When Theo stood firm, he just saw Batistuta leaving the scene with a smile on his face, and he even winked at him before leaving.

"Foul! Pulling in the penalty area!"

The referee ignored him and signaled him to return to his position quickly, otherwise when the ball was kicked off, the referee would not care about the loss caused by the wrong position.

Theo had no choice but to wave his hand as if to vent his anger and went back to his seat.

On his way back, he happened to meet Walker who was also walking back. While they were close and the ball hadn't been kicked yet, he reached out and pushed the other person away.

"Hey, your team, Batty, is quite vindictive."

Walker let out a breathy laugh.

"Who says it isn't?"

……

At the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0.

In the 38th minute, Augustus fouled Neymar and received a yellow card for his dangerous action. The camera turned over and saw Augustus gladly accepting the result. Then he said something to Neymar. When Batistuta looked over there, Neymar was obviously a little angry.

So three minutes later, the enraged Neymar caused chaos by dribbling the ball on the wing. Batistuta was in a bad position. When he looked over, Rashford fell to the ground. All the players around him surrounded him, with Neymar and Augustus at the center, who seemed to have had another argument.

The game was interrupted again.

"What happened?" Batistuta trotted over and glanced at Neymar. "That guy didn't do anything to you."

Neymar said nothing, just shook his head.

"What? Did I hit a sore spot?" Augustus, who was stopped by Ashley Young, was still provocative, "Tell him, tell him what I said to you that made you angry!"

Batty frowned.

"What did he say?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Neymar stared at Augustus with anger in his eyes, "Shut up, shut up you poor bastard!"

Before Batty figured it out, the two started to curse at each other.

"Stop! Order, gentlemen!" The referee separated the two people and waved away other irrelevant people. "It is very irrational to make a scene when there is no foul. I don't want it to happen again. Do you understand?"

After Neymar and Augustus nodded reluctantly, the referee let them go. Through several people, Batistuta cast a concerned look at Neymar.

Neymar smiled and gestured to him, "It's okay."

Five minutes later, the first half ended with both sides drawing. The Manchester derby saw the first 5-0 score in the first half since Guardiola and Mourinho took over.

……

[In the first half, Manchester City had 16 long passes, which is a relatively rare number after Guardiola took over Manchester City. Towards the end, Manchester City's players were a little anxious. Neymar - don't get too excited, if he gets too excited, Manchester City's rhythm will be disrupted.]

[Mourinho's adjustments to the two flanks of Manchester City were very effective. When Manchester United retreated to defend, they would obviously change into a 532 structure, which made it difficult for both Batistuta and Neymar.]

"So what did Augustus tell you?" Batty asked, sitting on the ground to rest.

"Nothing." Neymar looked upset, but he didn't want Batistuta to continue asking. "You know, it's just some insults, which are very common on the court."

"You don't want me to know?" Batty crossed his legs. He rolled his eyes and asked again, "Does it have anything to do with me?"

"No." Neymar denied immediately, "You think too much." He said, "There is nothing that cannot be known, but those words are really inappropriate to say. You don't need to know. I'm not targeting you. No one needs to know."

Having said that, Batty stopped asking further questions.

It must have something to do with him.

Batty chuckled, then naturally looked away.

"Don't be anxious, understand? Don't be anxious. They can't lock us. If two or three passes can't get in, then more passes, four or five!" Guardiola gave a passionate speech in the middle of the locker room. "If I have to sacrifice the success rate in exchange for speed, I would rather not do it. Everyone, don't give up the ball easily, okay!"

"understand!"

……

At the start of the second half, neither side made any personnel adjustments.

Manchester City had several good chances, but Manchester United's defense did not allow them to take advantage of the loopholes. In addition, Manchester United's goalkeeper also played very well today, even saving Batistuta's volley in the 62nd minute.

If this ball had gone in, he would have been named Player of the Week, but because of this save, the Best Goal became the Best Save.

That's how it is on the football field.

It can be said that they have achieved mutual success.

In the subsequent game, neither side had many chances. Manchester United tried to play from behind, 2 vs 2, Lingard and Rashford against Kompany and Lucas, but in the end they couldn't get past Lucas.

There was a stalemate for a while.

Just when the fans were about to fall asleep, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

In the 70th minute, Kompany could not stand being deceived by Stones. Four minutes later, Stones pulled Rashford in the penalty area and brought him down. The referee gave Stones a yellow card and then pointed to the penalty spot with a determined look.

[Oh! Penalty! There are nearly 15 minutes left, and Manchester United gets a penalty! ] The commentator's sleepiness was also scared away, [Can this goal be the turning point of this game? ]

"That move is so gentle that it can't hurt a mosquito!"

"Foul? Are you serious?"

"We don't deserve to be treated like this, sir!"

The Manchester City players were very dissatisfied, but the referee waved them away after consulting the referee on the sideline, and still gave the ball to the Manchester United players, maintaining the penalty.

What the hell!
Batistuta came to the midfield, squatted down, looked at his own goal, and silently cheered Ederson on.

Manchester United hesitated for a while. Pogba was originally going to take the penalty, but it seemed that he gave the ball to Augustus in the end.

The Manchester United fans behind the goal shouted his name. Batistuta looked at the other side's red and black head and cursed him in a low voice for tripping over the grass.

[beep——]
The whistle sounded, Augustus ran up and shot!

【球进了！1-0！近3个赛季6场联赛，曼市德比，曼联首次在70分钟取得领先！】

Fuck.

Batty gave the turf a middle finger.

(End of this chapter)