[Football] Bad Boy Batty

In the morning, Batty was awakened by a very slight shake.

The comfortable life in Europe did not take away the vigilance he had developed over the years. After realizing that someone was trying to 'move' him, he quickly woke up and grabbed the other person's wrist, then opened his eyes sharply.

It's Lucas.

The French defender blinked innocently: "Hi Batistuta, good morning." He maintained the action of wanting to pick up Batistuta and glanced suggestively at his wrist that was held by the other party.

"I just want to get you onto the sofa," he said. "The carpet is too hard to sleep on."

Batty let go, and the memory of last night came back bit by bit. He also remembered the whole process from this guy's confession to him pressing him on the carpet and kissing him like a pet dog. "Thank you, but it's not necessary. This is all your fault. If it weren't for you, I would at least wake up from the sofa."

"'Thank you'? You said thank you to me? That's all?" Lucas seemed to have only heard this one word. He half-knelt in front of Batty with a look of disbelief.

"Otherwise, do you want me to be grateful to you?"

"At least, at least you should add 'baby' at the end of the sentence..." Lucas said as he changed from being righteous to being shy, a very deliberate shy expression that you could tell at first glance is from someone who has watched too much Vine (a short video platform).

Batty: ...

"Okay baby, no problem baby, God, you're acting like a little girl in love, baby."

He rolled his eyes, stood up and stretched his shoulders, then added "baby" to the end of every sentence as Lucas requested, but there was obvious mockery in his tone.

Lucas also stood up: "I just want to hear your sweet words."

"Oh, you should have said these words last night, maybe we would have woken up from bed right now." Batty scratched his hair, felt around, and finally found his cell phone under the sofa cushion. Unfortunately, the battery light was already red.

Lucas understood immediately. "I want to wait a little longer on this," he said. "That would be too hasty and make me seem superficial."

"Oh my god, this is the first time someone says I'm superficial." Batty sneered, "I don't know where this saying comes from. Making love is superficial? Come on, you have to inspect the package before receiving it. What if you fall in love with the other person and find out that he or she can't make you happier than a little toy? What then?"

"I'm much more powerful than the little toy!"

"Jesus, why don't you listen to the whole thing? It's so boring." Barty just finished complaining when he noticed a shutdown countdown on the screen. "What the hell——"

He quickly rushed to the room to charge his phone, and managed to keep it turned on at the last second. Batty blew his hair and praised himself in his heart. Just then, a new message came in, so he lay on the bed and looked at the notification bar.

"Don't get me wrong, Batty. I'm not a conservative person. I just want you to feel that I'm serious." Lucas followed him. He lay on the edge of the bed and said shyly, "And, uh—"

"Ah!" Batistuta was not listening to what he said at all. The news on his phone attracted all his attention. "'The semi-finals are confirmed, Manchester United beat Porto twice, and Ajax, the dark horse, reversed Juventus.' It was expected that Manchester United would beat Porto, but Ajax beat Juventus? Wow-oh!"

As a result, three of the top four teams in the Champions League are from the Premier League. How many years has it been since this happened?

Tsk tsk.

Manchester City, Ajax, Ajax, Manchester United.

1/3 probability, Batistuta thought, I can’t be so unlucky to draw Manchester United.

He really didn't want to be mad at that French guy again. Oh, of course he wasn't targeting all French people. He glanced at Lucas next to him. The French defender was kneeling beside the bed waiting for him to finish watching the news.

Oh, that's cute.

Batty: "What did you want to say?"

"I want to say——"

Lucas suddenly stood up, stretched out his hand to grab the back of Barty's head and pressed him towards him, then gave him a light kiss in Barty's surprised eyes.

"Good morning kiss." The French defender smiled brightly, "I want to ask you for a good morning kiss."

Batty lay on the bed, looked at Lucas for a long time, and finally laughed out loud: "I take that back, you are still quite romantic."

then--
The French defender got more kisses.

Batty did not mention the matter of 'inspection of goods' again.

……

On the evening when the top four teams were decided, amid heated debate among fans in the forum, UEFA announced the results of the semi-final draw.

Manchester City's opponent is dark horse Ajax, while the other group is the much-anticipated Red Devils derby.

"Thank God, I hope Ajax can teach them a lesson." Batistuta said as he sat with his legs crossed in the theater. "Ajax is great, let's see how dark this dark horse can be!"

"Yes! Let's try their gold content!" Lucas agreed. He squeezed next to Batty and didn't give others a chance for several days.

"It's good to have fighting spirit, but be careful, the Champions League is not easy, and the teams that can play in the semi-finals are definitely not the weakest teams." Guardiola walked to the curtain and said, "Let's first understand the most commonly used formations of the opponents - Batistuta, put your feet down, I can see your underwear with SpongeBob printed on it from here."

Batty raised his middle finger and put his leg down amid the laughter of his teammates.

"Don't underestimate the opponent. Ajax is very powerful and their team is very flexible." Guardiola pointed a laser pointer at the screen. "After the semi-finals, we still have the league to play. That is not an easy task. The first leg is crucial for us and we cannot lose points."

……

The first leg was held at Manchester City's home stadium, Etihad Stadium. At 4 pm on the last day of April, the 8-18 Champions League semi-final officially kicked off with the home team fans singing "Blue Moon".

Manchester City's starting lineup was not much different from the league match against Burnley in midweek.

Ederson is still the goalkeeper; Kompany and Laporte play as central defenders in the defense, Zinchenko and Danilo return to the bench, Lucas and Walker are on the left and right respectively; in the midfield, Gundogan replaces Fernandinho who has gastroenteritis, and in front of him is still David Silva and De Bruyne; the forward line is still the familiar South American three-piece set.

Ajax used the same lineup from the last round against Juventus.

Goalkeeper Onana; the defense from right to left are Feltman, De Ligt, Blind, and Tagliafico; in the midfield, Schone and Frenkie de Jong are the double defensive midfielders, Neres is on the left and Ziyech is on the right, and Van der Beck is the attacking midfielder; the single striker is Tadic.

[Manchester City has a luxurious forward line with a total value of over 10 billion euros, while Ajax's newcomers, whose names were unknown half a season ago, have doubled in value after the reversal of Juventus. Guardiola and ten Hag, offensive football and offensive football, who will gain the upper hand in the battle? Let's wait and see! ]

With the referee's whistle, the game officially began.

……

After the opening, neither side accelerated the game very quickly. Both were testing and looking for their own rhythm of the game. Soon, Ajax took the lead and launched a high-pressure defense against Manchester City at the request of head coach Ten Hag.

Three minutes into the game, Ajax won the ball in the middle and immediately launched an attack. De Jong made a lob pass and Tadic's powerful shot from the right side of the penalty area was saved by Ederson. Perhaps because the game had just started and the ball was out of Ederson's control, Van de Beek followed up and wanted to make a supplementary shot, but fortunately Ederson rolled and crawled over and held the ball at the risk of a collision.

The strength of the young team cannot be underestimated, and Manchester City's backcourt was a little embarrassed for a while.

But fortunately, after more than 10 minutes of explosion, Ajax slowed down and Manchester City seized the opportunity to quickly adjust their status.

Kompany passed the ball to Lucas, who passed it to De Bruyne. Batistuta observed and found that De Jong was more offensive and had not returned yet, so he was far away from him. Central defender Blind was more experienced and had positioned himself early. Tagliafico, who was defending him, was also retreating. As a result, the right side was not a good passing point.

But if he goes up, Ajax will have to divide their attention to mark him, the left side will become empty, and Neymar will have more room to operate.

Batty quickly ran towards the side.

"Hey! They are coming! Pay attention!" De Ligt obviously realized this as well. He waved his hand to let the midfield defense line stand firm and disrupt the passing route.

Schone went for the ball and De Bruyne fell to the ground, giving Manchester City a free kick 25 yards in the frontcourt.

This is not bad.

Batistuta came to the penalty spot, where Neymar and De Bruyne were standing and discussing something. When they saw him coming, they both looked at him at the same time.

"Do you want to come?" Neymar asked.

"Yeah." Batistuta touched his nose and hardly moved his mouth, "I feel good today." "You want to shoot directly." De Bruyne said affirmatively.

"Yeah." Batty pretended to stand to the side, "This wall of people is not low, help me shake it, Ney, you run first, Kevin, you stand behind me."

"Row."
"can."

Batistuta wiped his hands on his jersey, patted Neymar on the back and pretended to tell him which way to take the penalty, then he stepped back a few steps and said, "Come on."

Neymar took a run-up and jumped over the ball.

Ajax's wall did not move, they saw through their opponent's tricks.

But most of their attention was on De Bruyne. When Batistuta took the free kick, the Jia family's wall was obviously half a beat slow to jump.

[Ding——]
The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out of bounds.

Damn, just a little bit!

"Great! Batistuta!" Neymar gave him a thumbs up. De Bruyne, who returned to the midfield, also fully affirmed the shot: "Don't be discouraged, we still have a chance."

Batistuta responded with a gesture, pulled his socks that had slipped down back to his thighs, and ran back to his position.

The ball is given to Ajax.

……

Manchester City did not panic and slowly brought the rhythm back to their feet.

In the 22nd minute, Walker dribbled the ball on the right and made a series of wall passes with Batistuta near the sideline. Batistuta quickly observed the defense in front of him and chose to dribble the ball diagonally from the ribs. This was a very dangerous position. Schone chose to make a tackle without hesitation, but Batistuta had already predicted it, and he lightly brushed the ball past with a hook of his foot and jumped up to avoid the tackle.

[It was a great time! The best right winger in the league is Batistuta! I think there should be no objection. The last player who could operate in such a small space was Messi at the age of 20.]

Aguero and Neymar were watching closely, and De Ligt did not dare to lose his position rashly. He could only shout at his teammates to put pressure on him.

Blind was in a forward position and also did not dare to move, but the result of defending on the spot was the same as Boateng's that year. He was tricked by Batistuta's feint and fell miserably in front of the goal.

【Hahaha, I’m late but I’m here! 】

However, the Ajax goalkeeper was in great form today. He quickly fell to the ground and blocked Batistuta's shot with his legs. The ball bounced back into the field. Gundogan tried a long shot from the outside, but it slipped out of the goal.

[What a pity! If this goal had been included in this year's tally, there would have been one more magical goal.]

After dribbling the ball, he made a cross, and Aguero tried to score, but unfortunately the pass was a little too long and the goalkeeper got the ball first.

……

Perhaps today is the moment for the goalkeepers of both sides to show their abilities. Not only Onana, but also Ederson is in great shape.

In the 37th minute, Ajax midfielder counterattacked, Ziyech dribbled the ball on the right and made consecutive breakthroughs. He shook off Lucas and David Silva at the edge of the penalty area and cut inside to shoot. The ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal. Ederson flew to save the ball and lifted it out with one hand.

Kompany won the corner kick of Ajax, and De Jong passed the ball in front of the goal from the outside. In the chaotic crowd, Ederson hugged the ball, but he collided with Ziyech and took two steps back towards the goal.

"Hey! Sir! Come in!"
"The ball crossed the goal line!"

Ajax players went to the referee to protest. After VAR video replay, it was determined that only a small part of the ball in Ederson's hand crossed the goal line and the goal was invalid.

The first half was thrilling, with both teams having good chances but failing to score.

The score remained 0-0 until halftime.

The second half continued and neither side made any substitutions or changed tactics.

The field was in a stalemate for a while. It's not that the game was bad. The two teams were able to go back and forth and penetrate deep into the penalty area to threaten the goal. They played very well, but no goals were scored.

It wasn't until the 76th minute that Manchester City finally broke the deadlock.

Kompany launched an attack from the backcourt, with a slow tempo. He intentionally made a downward gesture. De Bruyne received the ball and observed it, then passed it to Walker who was coming up the wing. Under his command, Walker did not speed up, but passed the ball to Aguero who was retreating to receive the ball and had no one guarding him. Ajax did not fight hard in this position.

Aguero turned around and passed the ball to Batistuta, but Batistuta's position was not very good, so he passed the ball back to De Bruyne. De Bruyne moved the ball to the left. At this time, Ajax's defense began to have loopholes due to failure to return to position in time.

Neymar reached out for the ball, but De Bruyne didn't give it to him. Of course, this was intentional. After failing to get the ball, Neymar quickly inserted himself behind the defense line and then made a fake move to run sideways.

Feltman could no longer keep up with his pace, and the space was created. De Bruyne made a precise pass and Neymar scored the ball sideways.

1-0!

A typical Manchester City goal!

【The ball went in! Finally, in the 78th minute, the score became 1-0! According to statistics, this goal was passed 22 times before Neymar scored it, among which Batistuta's back pass was particularly crucial. It was a goal that perfectly reflected Guardiola's tactical requirements! 】

When celebrating the goal, the player who provided the assist and the one who completed the final kick did not seem too excited. They just hugged each other symbolically for a few seconds before letting go of each other.

Of course, it’s not that they didn’t feel anything about the goal. They were happier than anyone else when they celebrated separately.

"Oh -" Batistuta hooked Aguero's neck and looked at Neymar, then at De Bruyne, "We will never see the crazy celebration of the two of you, right?"

Neymar showed his signature smile and tried to divert the topic, but De Bruyne didn't. He ruffled Batistuta's hair and smiled at him.

"Maybe," De Bruyne said, "keep your expectations, maybe Santa Claus will help you realize it."

……

Manchester City's happiness did not last long.

In the 81st minute, a small incident occurred on the field.

Ajax midfielder Schone fell to the ground during a fight, and Lucas kicked the ball out of the sideline to suspend the game. After treatment by the team doctor, Schone quickly stood up and returned to the game.

According to international practice, Ajax must return the ball.

But striker Neres was clever. He pretended to return the ball, but actually put it on the sideline. When Lucas went to kick the ball out of bounds, he subconsciously reached out to pick it up.

The linesman raised the flag and the referee blew the whistle.

Lucas committed a handball foul and Ajax won a free kick from close range in the frontcourt. At this time, Batistuta didn't even have time to put back the water bottle handed to him by his teammate.

He accidentally splashed water on his face.

"What happened?" Batty asked in surprise without caring about anything else.

"Handball." Aguero replied, his hands on his hips, his expression unfriendly, "The guy didn't kick the ball out of bounds, Luki used his hands to take it, isn't it a foul."

Batty: ...
Batty: (expletive)

Unfortunately, De Jong took a free kick and De Ligt headed the ball into the goal, beating Kompany, and Ajax equalized the score at the last moment.

At the end of the game, Manchester City and Ajax drew 1-1 in the first leg.

Now the pressure is on Manchester City.

(End of this chapter)