[Football] Bad Boy Batty

1-1 is not a good score, everyone is frustrated, especially Lucas.

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault." Guardiola found the French defender in the player tunnel. "An upright person can never predict what a villain will do. Don't punish yourself for what has already happened."

It had only been a few minutes since they were equalized. Even those with the strongest psychological endurance could not recover immediately. Lucas still needed some time to calm down. He smiled at the head coach and nodded to show that he understood.

The atmosphere in the locker room was not very pleasant.

"Why are you so sullen? It's not like we lost 0-3." Batty wiped his sweat with a towel and joked.

But no one spoke.

Neymar tugged at his shorts, indicating that this was not a good time, and Batistuta rolled his eyes, blew his lips, and sat down next to him.

"I have something to say, boys," Kompany said, clapping his hands. "I'm not blaming anyone, everyone was excellent. What I want to say is that at the end we had no reason to play like that. If we give the opponent the feeling of 'come on, take the ball, come behind us, there's space here', then this is not a good sign at all. I want the team to be better and go to a higher level. We must be strict with ourselves."

But at this time, different voices appeared in the locker room——

"We suppressed them in the second half. The opponent was very aggressive, so we needed to expend a lot of physical strength and energy. When we felt tired, we should have stood in formation again and forced ourselves to concentrate."

"What did you say? What are you referring to?"

"Nothing, I just said--"

"Are you saying that someone among us was not paying attention in the end, which led to the current situation? You can say it clearly. There are no fools sitting here. Everyone knows who you are referring to."

"No, you are too extreme and have completely misunderstood me. I mean--"

"That's not the point."

"What's on your mind? Speak up, please."

"Don't get me involved. I did my job well. That's all."

"What? You mean to say the rest of us didn't do a good job?"

More and more players joined the discussion, and there was a buzzing sound in the locker room. Lucas was a little sad. He could understand his teammates saying that he was not paying attention, after all, the goal was his responsibility, but he was even sadder when he saw Batistuta defending him and fighting back against everyone who mentioned it.

"Shh! Shut up, please, everyone, and listen to me!" Guardiola stepped forward to stop everyone. "This result is not bad. The biggest mistake we made was to blame each other. If you have any disagreements, come to me and complain about the decisions I made. I am the head coach. I told you to do this and that. Come on."

The locker room was quiet and everyone kept silent.

"You have played very well this season and it hurts not to win. Of course, we could have performed better at home. This is the Champions League semi-final, which is not easy." Guardiola continued, "But it is at this moment that I want to see the cohesion of the team, guys."

"High-level football is complicated, too complicated. We always want to be better, but this is competition. We can't always get what we want. There are no weak teams in the Champions League, let alone the semi-finals." Guardiola walked back and forth in the arc-shaped locker room. He looked at the tired eyes of each player and said, "Don't give up. At this time, don't erase everything you have done just because you didn't win."

"Everybody, believe me, that's when the real men, the real professionals, step up and say, 'Hey guys, I'm here, I'm here to make the final push.'"

"If you give up, well, congratulations to Ajax, Liverpool and Manchester United, they are the final winners."

"This is what you should do, understand? This is it."

With applause all around, Guardiola left for the press conference. The locker room returned to calm, and the players who had just been arguing ended the tense atmosphere by chatting.

They are players, Manchester City players, not enemies. Everyone, including the ants on the floor in the locker room, wishes them well and hopes that they will be the ones to win the trophy in the end.

So, when everyone is moving in unison, what obstacles can't be overcome?
……

When they returned that night, everyone received a text message from Kompany, telling them to cheer up and that they were far from giving up.

This is a routine. Whenever the team performs poorly or the results are not ideal, he always does this. It seems to be a small thing and perhaps some people will not take it to heart, but it cannot be denied that it does make most people feel better and the atmosphere in the locker room becomes better.

Batistuta liked the text messages very much, but he didn't expect that when he went to the club the next day, he was pulled aside by Kompany before he started his physiotherapy.

"I have something to tell you, Barty," he said quietly. "Got a minute?"

++
What the first-team building has the least is space. Kompany and Batistuta came to the entertainment room, which has a pool table, sofas and TV. They always watch the draw ceremony or relax here.

"What's so mysterious?" Batty took a billiard ball and played with it in his hand, his tone relaxed.

"Before I answer your question, I have to ask you one." Kompany was not in a hurry to get to the point, "Have you read my text message, Batistuta?"

"Of course, I read every one of them carefully. I guess that's the secret of our comebacks every time," Barty joked. "Okay, seriously, what's wrong with the text message?"

"I want you to gather all the text messages together, read them carefully a few times, and then try to write a text message like that," Kompany said.

"Huh?" Batty was a little confused. "Haven't you already posted it? Why do you want me to do it again--" "I'm leaving next season."

The air froze for a moment, and Batty couldn't believe what he heard.

"Vini, is that true?" he asked.

Kompany nodded.

"But - why?" Batty understood that every player would have a day when their competitive form declined due to years of injuries, but for Kompany, it happened too soon and people were unprepared.

"It has been decided that I will leave the team as a free agent next season and then try to be a coach like Pep." Kompany shrugged, looking very relaxed. He patted Batistuta on the shoulder, "So, the task of sending text messages in the future will be handed over to you."

Batty's mind went a little blank.

"But—you know me, Captain. I'm not good at comforting people," he said. "I'm better at stirring up trouble and quarreling."

"Well, that's only part of it. You did a great job accepting the captaincy in the first half of this season." Kompany held Batistuta's shoulders, as if to give him strength. "Few people are born captains. When I first took over, I was also panicked and didn't know what to do, but slowly you will find that it is not difficult to bring teammates together and encourage them."

Batty pursed his lips and said: "I will never be able to give a speech in the locker room like you."

"You can't, no one can, because you are you, you can't be me." Kompany said to him, "I believe in you, you will do it well."

This is truly a great trust.

Batistuta didn't know what to say in response, nor did he know if he could take all the responsibility. He did well in the first half of the season because he only had to take responsibility for the things on the field and half of the things in the locker room. He couldn't solve them because of Kompany and others, but now -

"Okay, I get it," Batty gave him a hug, "I'll learn to do better, starting with text messages, simple, no big deal."

"One more thing, don't forget Lucas. He lives with you. Go talk to him."

"Luki? He's fine, if you mean the game against Ajax, he recovered well."

"Whether he is affected or not, none of us know. The point is you, you should do something," Kompany said. "I don't want to make things too complicated in the locker room, but the fact is that Pep is the leader, but he can't manage everything. With your personality, you need your own 'Knights of the Round Table', so go talk to him."

"Whether I go to find him or not, Luki will stand by my side." Batti chuckled, and there was something in it that the old captain couldn't understand.

"Don't be so stubborn." Kompany smiled and gave him a slap on the head. "Go talk to him, it won't do you any harm."

"Okay, okay, I will." Batistuta rubbed his forehead and hugged Kompany again. "Don't worry, captain, we will send you off with the trophy and leave no regrets. I promise you."

Kompany smiled gently.

"Yeah, I believe it."

……

At night, in Batty's apartment building, Lucas's house.

"...Don't worry about me, Mom. I'm fine. I was responsible for the goal, but the coach comforted me, and Barty also kept speaking for me...Yeah, it's okay...No one blames me. There were some minor problems, but they have been resolved. We are now focusing on the second round. Believe me, I will reach the final again. On the day of the final, you must come to the scene."

After hanging up the phone and comforting his mother in France, Lucas decided to take a shower and review the game against Ajax.

Of course, he didn't want to see how the final goal was lost. What he wanted to see was why they failed to score more goals in the first 80 minutes.

Just then, his doorbell rang.

"Open the door Luki! I'm here to see if everything is alright with you!"

Through the surveillance camera at the door, Lucas saw Batty standing there with his arms folded. He was quite sure that he came down because he was worried about him.

After thinking for a few seconds——

Lucas quickly ruffled his hair, rubbed his eyes hard, and tried every way to make himself look more haggard. What could be better than reviewing the game?
It was to review the game with Barty.

He opens the door.

"Hi, Barty, I hate to say this, but - I don't think I'm feeling well, come in, I'm just going to review the game." Lucas said, "If you're willing to help, like hug and kiss, I think I'll recover faster."

"No problem." Batty walked in. "If you want to get back to your best condition, even if you want to hug and kiss me all night, I have no objection."

(End of this chapter)