[Football] Bad Boy Batty

[Bati insisted on playing despite the injury. Look at this shot - well, the collision was really severe. The wound on the lower lip is obvious. Augustus must have done it on purpose. After the game, Batistuta will have to go check whether he has a concussion.]

In the 42nd minute, Aguero and Batistuta switched positions and Ederson made a long pass to the right from the backcourt. Aguero stopped the ball with his chest and tried to walk into the penalty area from the ribs, but Augustus stepped forward to block it.

Maguire did not move, Batistuta wandered in the middle, trying to reduce his presence as much as possible so that Manchester United's defenders would ignore him, so that he could make a fatal blow when necessary.

The Argentine striker was stuck and involved in a local positional battle. De Bruyne stepped forward to help, and the two worked together to get the ball out.

"Over there! Harry, Harry! Don't let him shoot!"

Aguero did not choose to shoot, he passed the ball to Batistuta, who omitted all the fancy moves, stepped on the ball and turned, lightly and quickly passed Luke Shaw and went straight into the penalty area.

"He □□!"
"Block him!"
“Location, location, location!”

Augustus admitted that he was a little arrogant just now. He ignored Batistuta's passing point in the frontcourt. It was just a small victory and he should not get carried away. Fortunately, he still had a chance to make up for it. He knocked Batistuta down before he entered the penalty area. Whether it was a yellow card or a free kick, the result would be much better than letting him in.

Maguire thought so too.

One second before Batistuta entered the penalty area, he and Augustus attacked from the front and back, and knocked Batistuta down with closed defense. The Manchester City king rolled twice in the penalty area and stopped right in front of De Gea.

"Are you okay?" De Gea reached out to him.

But at this time Batistuta had no time to answer. He turned over, sat on the grass with his legs apart, and stretched out his hands to put pressure on the referee.

"Foul! They kicked me down! Sir!" he shouted angrily, "This is a clear foul!"

do you remember?

No matter how clean the opponent's tackle was, the first element of getting a penalty is to express anger without mentioning a penalty at all.

"No, no, sir, I touched the ball first," Augustus said, shaking his finger at the referee. "And it wasn't in the penalty area, it was outside."

Maguire also wanted to say something, but was rejected by the referee Rizzoli. He was in a good position just now and saw the whole process clearly. Before Batistuta was brought down, the defender did kick the ball first and had no intention of showing his studs or hurting anyone.

Manchester City won a free kick in a great position.

"Damn it! There should be a yellow card!" Batistuta quickly turned over from in front of the goal, cursing as he walked towards the penalty spot, "Someone kicked my calf and I fell in the penalty area. I really don't understand why it was just a free kick!"

"Stop complaining." Neymar patted him and said, "You or me?"

"I'll do it!" Batty said through gritted teeth.

Neymar did not refuse, but he was worried about Batistuta's current condition.

"Relax, you can do it." He put his hand on Batty's shoulder and squeezed it. "It's very close, just give it some pressure, don't push too much."

"Ah."

Neymar stepped back, Batistuta looked at the goal through the gap in the wall of people, and moved the corners of his mouth. The wound on his lower lip hurt slightly, which just made him more sober.

This ball will go in, he said to himself.

Batistuta moved his shoulders, and just as Augustus directed the wall to move to the left to prevent him from hitting a curve ball, he swung his leg and shot on the spot!

"What the F..."

No one expected that he would cancel his run-up and shoot directly.

Manchester United's wall jumped up in panic, but it was too late.

[The ball goes in! In the 43rd minute, Batistuta scored directly from a free kick! It was a coincidence that the ball went over Augustus' head and into the upper left corner! Batistuta got revenge for the blood spilled on the field just now! Manchester City leads 1-0! ]

"It's in, it's in, it's in! Beautiful!"

After scoring the goal, Batistuta did not celebrate immediately. He ignored his teammates who were running towards him and rushed straight towards Augustus. Then he turned in front of him and hugged Neymar who was following him.

"I told you this ball would go in!" Batty waved his fist. "Come on! A few more! Make up for all the blood I shed!"

Augustus, whose way was blocked, had to change the way he walked away, with his twisted smile that only a madman could have. The camera on the sidelines just happened to capture this scene.

At the end of the first half, Manchester City entered the halftime break with a 1-goal lead.

……

"Are you okay, Batty? Do you want to disinfect again?" In the locker room, Lucas stood in front of Batty with some concern. "The wound is really big. Your whole lip is swollen."

"Yeah, she looks like a Kardashian!" Walker joked as he passed by.

Batty rolled his eyes at him and waved his hand away like he was shooing away a fly.

"I don't feel anything anymore." He licked his lips and said to Lucas, "It hurt a little when it was first broken, but it went away quickly. Guess what's the best medicine to heal the wound?"

"Of course it was a goal." Neymar walked over and smiled teasingly. He handed Batistuta a bottle of water and said, "You kicked the ball really well. If it was a little lower, it would have been gone."

"Hmm." Batty rinsed his mouth. "I let my anger do the work for me. I'm lucky I didn't drive the ball straight into that bastard's face. Oh, no, that was kind of cool."

"If you kick Augustus in the face, we will lose the goal." De Bruyne said as he walked up to Batistuta, then pinched Batistuta's chin under the gaze of Neymar and Lucas, and forced him to open his mouth to check his wound.

"You had blood in your mouth too. Where was it broken?" he asked.

Batty blinked, taking a few seconds to react before reaching out to brush off his grip, before anyone else showed any reaction.

"The left side," he said. "If you hadn't asked me, I would have almost forgotten it."

"Go to the team doctor before the second half starts," De Bruyne said, "otherwise when you get excited about scoring a goal, it will start to hurt."

"Got it." Batistuta focused on 'scoring another goal'. He smiled at the Belgian midfielder and turned back to his seat.

Lucas wanted to say something else, but then Guardiola knocked on the whiteboard in the middle of the locker room and assigned the players tasks for the second half, so he swallowed his words back.

Neymar noticed his action and gave him a puzzled look. The French defender waved his hands to indicate that it was nothing.

After all, both of them are on the left side, and they have to cooperate with each other in normal games and training. In a sense, they are on the same front.

"Keep it up. Now we have the advantage, but it's not enough. We can't relax. Manchester United, who are behind, will intensify their counterattacks. This is a test for our defense, but it also provides opportunities. We can steal the ball from their counterattacks and quickly turn it into our chances. Do you understand?"

"understand!"

……

The second half begins.

Neither side made any substitutions and there were no obvious tactical changes, but it was clear that after scoring the goal, Manchester City played a lot more relaxed and the passing in the midfield became easier.

In the 56th minute, Manchester City had a chance.

Pogba and Lingard made a mistake in coordination. When Pogba passed the ball, Lingard, who was supposed to stop the ball and receive it, chose to press forward. He was a step slower and the ball was intercepted by Fernandinho's leg and then passed directly to Aguero in the frontcourt.

Aguero advanced through the middle, with Maguire and Wan-Bissaka in front of him, leaving him with little space to shoot. Batistuta followed up on the right, but with Theo marking him, he was not a good choice either, so Aguero chose to pass the ball to Neymar who was unmarked next to him.

But how could Mourinho completely allow Neymar to easily get the ball on the wing? Sanchez returned from the frontcourt to his own half to assist in defense. Augustus gave up blocking and chose to directly stop Neymar from cutting inside. Just behind him, David Silva was already in place, and De Bruyne was at the back post.

Neymar did not pass the ball, he chose to take the shot himself.

The ball did not hit the goal frame.

……

The so-called wasted opportunity will be punished.

From this goal on, the next 10 minutes belonged to Manchester United.

De Gea kicked the ball with a long kick, and near the midfield, Augustus fouled De Bruyne. Rizzoli showed him a yellow card and gave Manchester City a free kick near the midline.

De Bruyne quickly sent a free kick to the frontcourt, Maguire cleared the ball, Fernandinho made a mistake in the header, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and launched a counterattack. Manchester City's overall defense line was pressed forward, which gave Manchester United room to operate.

Pogba passed the ball to the penalty area. Rashford's shot was at a straight angle and was blocked by Ederson, but Ederson failed to control the ball. It bounced back to Pogba's feet after he passed the ball, and the French midfielder raised his foot and shot.

Manchester City's defense arrived at this time. Walker was the fastest and tried to use a sliding tackle to get the ball out of the goal line, but he was only a few seconds away.

The ball went in, and so did Walker.

It just fell in. [Manchester United equalized the score! Manchester City had an overall advantage in terms of both the scene and the data, but Manchester United seized this opportunity and turned it into a goal. Fernandinho's mistake was really not right. There was still half an hour left, and someone had to do something to avoid going into overtime.]

In the 63rd minute, the score became 1-1.

The two sides returned to the same starting line.

……

"Damn it!"

Batistuta stomped on the grass twice to vent his anger. Manchester United scored a goal, but it was not because of luck, but because of mistakes in Manchester City's defense.

This shouldn't be a close game.

Manchester United?

Come on, Manchester City have been crushing them for the past 3 seasons, and only lost one game this year, and that was it.

Going into overtime?

No no no no.

There is no need to go into overtime in this game.

Batistuta dribbled the ball on the wing while Augustus switched to defend. After the competition in the first half, the physical confrontation between the two men unconsciously became emotional.

[beep——]
The referee blows the whistle.

Batistuta committed a foul and the ball was given to Manchester United.

[Hiss, Batistuta seems to be anxious. Let's watch the replay. Oh, indeed, Augustus's hands are always dirty. He makes some small movements, but they are not too obvious, not enough to warrant a whistle. He always does this to you. No wonder Batistuta gets angry and pushes him away.]

No card, no big problem.

Batistuta licked the wound in his mouth. Fortunately, he went to the team doctor to clean it as De Bruyne asked, otherwise it might have started bleeding again.

Manchester United was about to take a free kick, and Augustus kicked the ball high and made a large-scale pass. This was Mourinho's idea. Since ground infiltration didn't work and it was difficult to play from the two flanks, he would try to pass the ball high.

After all, Manchester United has the advantage in height.

Batistuta kept a close eye on the movements on the field and wandered around on the right side, coordinating with his teammates' movements and always paying attention to the loopholes in Manchester United's defense.

It's time to tell everyone what colour the sky is in Manchester.

……

In the 73rd minute, Manchester United, who had been relying on consuming physical strength to restrict their opponents for a long time, finally couldn't bear it anymore and took the lead in making a substitution, with Herrera replacing Luke Shaw.

This is an opportunity.

Seeing Herrera who had just come on the court and had not yet found a good position, Batistuta pretended to let De Bruyne pass the ball to the middle, and then quickly inserted himself. De Bruyne understood and made a precise arc pass over Herrera to Batistuta's feet. When Herrera reacted and went back to defend, Batistuta had already left him behind.

"Don't be afraid to grab it! Block it!" Augustus shouted, "Push him out and get out!"

That’s what Theo did.

He came back from the wing and strode to Kabatti's position, without committing a foul, just not giving him a chance to pass the ball. The two of them pulled to the right baseline, and Theo's defense was indeed stable, preventing Batistuta from passing the ball.

Corner kick.

Batistuta carried the ball to the corner flag area, and after thinking about it, he decided to let De Bruyne take the penalty.

De Bruyne came over to take over, and neither of them spoke. Just a glance when they passed each other was enough.

【Look at this ball, De Bruyne takes the lead. 】

In the crowd, Batistuta was entangled with Pogba in front of the goal. Augustus went to the front to defend Kompany. After a corner kick, Batistuta jumped up to compete for the header. Pogba and him jumped almost at the same time.

He couldn't see where the ball came from, but he could clearly feel the force of it hitting his head.

The angle isn't good enough.

Batty changed direction and touched his head.

If he guessed correctly, the periphery should be now——

[The ball goes in! Neymar volleys the ball from beyond the defense! So beautiful! A world wave that goes through the crowd! The connection between the three players in the front court of Manchester City is their tacit understanding. I'm sure they haven't practiced this on the training ground! ]

2-1! Manchester City took the lead!

Neymar was extremely excited after scoring the goal. He came to the sidelines, pulled up the corner flagpole and made a handsome sniper celebration.

This is his 12th goal in the Champions League, surpassing his previous records in Barcelona and Paris. If nothing unexpected happens, this year's Champions League Golden Boot will belong to him!

"What a creative celebration, Ney." Batistuta waved at him, "Come on, let's score a few more goals, a one-goal lead is not safe!"

……

It was the 80th minute, Manchester City was leading 2-1 and Manchester United were getting a little anxious.

Kompany kicked off from the backcourt, and Batistuta dribbled the ball near the sideline and competed with Lingard for the ball, but before he could do anything, the British striker fell to the ground in pain.

"I didn't touch him!" Batty immediately raised his hands to distance himself from the matter, "He fell to the ground by himself—"

Soon, Manchester United's team doctor came up, and Rizzoli also checked the situation with the linesman. It was determined that Lingard had a thigh cramp and could no longer continue.

Mourinho had to make another substitution, replacing him with Lukaku and Rashford moving to the left.

[Lingard's condition today was not very good. He was a bit invisible on the field. Apart from a good pass in Manchester United's counterattack, there was no other performance. Manchester United seemed to be playing with one less player on the field.]

In the 83rd minute, Manchester City also made a substitution, with Gundogan coming on for Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva coming on for David Silva.

It was this substitution that completely pushed Manchester United off the cliff.

Batistuta controlled the ball under his feet and tried to delay time. Rashford pressed forward, but he was not in a hurry. He made a high pass to the middle. B Silva took the ball and knocked it horizontally. Gundogan looked at the distance to the goal and shot from 25 yards.

The ball speed is not fast and the angle is not good.

Everyone thought De Gea would easily control the ball, but they were all wrong. De Gea did make a save, but the ball that he should have held fell out of his hands like butter.

[It's gone! De Gea made a low-level mistake! ]

How could Aguero, who was right next to him, miss this opportunity? He rushed over and headed the ball into the net with his knee before De Gea.

The players on the field were stunned.

Batistuta wasn't even watching the ball as it went into the net. He was discussing with B Silva whether to use a 'corner flag area' tactic to delay time.

"Fuck! It's in? It's in!"

"Come in!!"

"Not offside!"

The referee indicated that there was no problem with the goal.

"Oh oh oh!!!"

Manchester City's bench was in an uproar. They rushed to the sidelines and hugged their teammates on the field to celebrate wildly.

Batistuta struggled to get close to Aguero in the crowd and said, "How did you do that, Kun?"

"It's very simple!" Aguero laughed and ruffled Batistuta's hair. "Remember Benzema's goal last season? I scored it thinking about him!"

3-1, 89 minutes, 3 minutes of injury time.

Manchester City secured the victory.

(End of this chapter)