[Football] Bad Boy Batty

June 6, Manchester, weather, sunny.

It seemed as if everything was cheering for Manchester City's triumph. When the fans of the championship team held up banners and shouted "The sky in Manchester is blue", the sky was really cloudless and extremely blue.

In the afternoon, when the sun was at its hottest, Manchester City's bus started, carrying the club's players and coaches for a city-wide celebration.

"I'm not kidding! Seriously, Ney, and Kun, you have to believe me! The spike really went from one leg to the other! It wasn't my fault, it was just his luck, and I almost died of laughter in the suburbs of Madrid!"

Batty had been making fun of Lucas for two days, and he modified the story slightly and told it to everyone he met, such as Loach, teammates, drivers, security guards at the door, and even the cleaning lady.

"Stop laughing, I'm the victim!" Lucas pushed his sunglasses up awkwardly, as if that could hide his red face, "It wasn't me who wanted to fall."

"What? Did I push you down?" Batty continued to laugh at him, not intending to stop. "Believe me, that was the funniest scene I've ever seen. It's a pity that my phone ran out of battery, otherwise I would definitely take a picture of it and post it on all platforms!"

Send it out?!

Amid Neymar and Aguero's laughter, Lucas, the only person at the scene who knew the inside story and what the real situation was at the time, burst into tears and shook his head at Batistuta with a horrified expression.

"I've seen videos like that, on Vine," Neymar said, laughing. "It was two girls, one of them had a cocklebur stuck in her calf, and the other one used a branch to push it down, and it went from her left leg to her right leg!"

"Hahahaha! It's such a vivid picture!" Aguero slapped his thigh and fell on Batistuta with laughter.

"By the way, Batistuta, what are you doing in the suburbs?" Neymar suddenly asked. "There's no good nightclub nearby. I saved a seat for you, but your phone was turned off."

"My battery was running low when I got in the car, so I shut down when we got there." Batty shrugged and answered naturally, "We were originally going to a nightclub, but he saw a sign on the way and insisted that I follow him to reminisce about my childhood. Now, I didn't reminisce about my childhood, but I made myself a joke!"

Lucas chose to remain silent.

Neymar nodded: "I understand. One time I went back to Brazil to record a show and happened to drive past the store I always went to when I was a child. I stopped and went in to take a look, and bought toys that I couldn't afford before."

Batistuta folded his arms in response, using body language to express his approval and admiration for Neymar's superb ability to understand. Aguero, who was standing next to him, also nodded in agreement.

Lucas didn't dare to say a word. He could only quietly move behind Batistuta and pinch his waist threateningly. Batistuta remained unmoved and turned back to give him a charming smile.

"It wasn't me who was controlled by the cocklebur, dear. Remember, I was the one who helped you back to the car that night." He said, "I hope you don't have any psychological trauma because of it-"

"That's not true!" Lucas gritted his teeth and retorted, "I've already proved it to you! There is no psychological trauma, absolutely nothing!"

"Okay, yes, you are right."

"you do not believe me!"

"No, where did you hear that?"

"Every word you say is: I don't believe it!"

"Nonsense."

Neymar frowned quietly over there.

Why did he feel that the atmosphere between Batistuta and Lucas was weird? Was he wrong? Why was it a bit like - flirting?
Just as Neymar was struggling over whether to find a way to verify his guess, the bus drove into a noisy old-fashioned neighborhood. Fans stood on the windowsills and shouted "Manchester City" at the top of their lungs. No one could remain unmoved when seeing this scene, let alone the players.

Batistuta pushed his sunglasses down on his head and lit a blue firework. Aguero, Neymar and Lucas also came to his side. They held up blue firework sticks in front of the fans and shouted with the fans in the rising blue clouds:

"City! City! City!"
"Champion Champion Champion! OLEEE OLEE OLE!"

The fireworks burned out and the atmosphere reached its climax.

"Look here!"

A smiling voice called out from behind, and Batistuta turned around subconsciously. It was De Bruyne. He was in a good mood, wearing casual clothes today with his championship shirt inside. His hair was obviously groomed, and he was wearing sunglasses. He was holding a bottle of champagne and pointing it at them.

Aguero raised his hand to defend: "Kevin, I advise you not to--"

Of course De Bruyne kept listening to him.

"Smile everyone!"

[Bang——]
Champagne gushed out and splashed on several people in front of the Belgian midfield. Of course, most of it was caught by Batistuta.

"Hey!" The wet Manchester City King glared at him, "I just got my hair done this morning."

"Sorry." De Bruyne said insincerely. He smiled and walked towards Batistuta, raising his hand to help fix his hair, but he had no skills and the hair became more messy.

"It's hard to say you didn't mean it, Kevin." Batty slapped his hand away mercilessly. "Don't make things worse. Go away and see if the trophy is affected."

"—I heard someone mention the trophy?"

A gentle laugh came from the front of the car. It was Kompany, who came here from the bus in front with the Premier League trophy and Walker.

"Hi Vini." Buddy smoothed his hair to make it as neat as possible. "I thought you weren't allowed to cross-car—Ouch!"

He had just said half of his words when he noticed that the old captain was wearing a different shirt than the others. The pattern printed on it was the picture of him scoring a long-range equalizer in the last round of the league and helping them win the trophy. There was also a line of words written on it: No! Captain, don't! Captain, don't shoot!
"Haha! Look! Isn't this what we shouted?" Aguero also found the easter egg on Kompany's shirt. He squeezed through Neymar and Lucas, pulled Batistuta and laughed together, "Did you make it into a T-shirt? Hahaha!"

"Yes, I love that game and I love that quote," Kompany said, pulling open his jacket to show them the whole thing more clearly. "It's nothing in the history of this club, but it's definitely something in my career."

Several people took photos with the captain and interacted with the fans. Finally, when they were almost at the finish line, Kompany called out to Batistuta.

"I came to your car because I want to discuss something with you."

"What's the matter? Tell me."

"This..." Kompany took out a captain's armband from his pocket. "The club has officially announced that I will leave the team next season. I will also greet the fans on the stage later. I hope you can cooperate with me." "Cooperate?" Batistuta repeated, "Do you want me to help you put it on?"

"No." Kompany shook his head. "I'll put it on for you."

"What—" Batty looked over in surprise, "You want to give me the captain's armband?"

"Yes."

"No, no, no, don't." Batty used three negative words, "You can tell me this in private and give me the task of the next speech, but don't do this."

"Fulfill my wish, Batistuta." Kompany smiled. "I know this is a bit formalistic, but - many people say that Manchester City was built with money and that it does not have the heritage of a traditional giant. I want to change this, starting with us, starting with me handing you the captain's armband in a very dramatic way. Our history, our heritage and trophies are well known to the world."

Batistuta looked at Kompany for a long time and finally nodded in agreement.

"Thank you." Kompany pulled him into his arms and gave him a tight hug.

"We should thank you, Captain." Batistuta hugged him back. "We won the treble this season. We didn't disappoint you."

"Yeah." Kompany patted him on the back. "I have won all the championships. I have no regrets about leaving Manchester City."

……

The bus finally arrived at the finish line and the players stood on the center stage. There was no specially designed trophy presentation. The staff simply handed them over and then the players passed them from the back to the front to the center.

Why not a special broadcast?

Kompany shook the scarf around his neck, walked through the crowd to find Batistuta, and then squatted down in front of him unexpectedly.

"Vini?"

"Hurry up, come on!" Kompany didn't give him time to think, "The square is so big, we have to let the fans in the back row see the trophy too! Don't you think so!"

"Yes!!"

This idea was unanimously affirmed by everyone. Batistuta was almost pushed to sit on Kompany's shoulders. Before he could raise any objections, the view angle suddenly rose.

"Hey!" Batty screamed, "You can't do this!"

"Of course we can!" Aguero shouted wildly from behind, "Quick! Whoever has the trophy, send it to him!"

The DJ on the scene quickly noticed this as well.

[Look! Our meritorious captain is carrying the future meritorious captains! The inheritance of legends! Isn’t this the best celebration! Next we will show the trophy, first of all——]

Neymar handed the League Cup trophy to Batistuta.

【Carabao Cup Champions!!!】

Batty raised the trophy in response.

“Oh oh oh!” The fans cooperated very well and threw their scarves into the air, “Successfully defended the title!”

[Next——]

De Bruyne handed the Premier League trophy to Batistuta.

【Premier League Champions!!!】

Batty lifted the trophy again.

“Ohhhh!” The veteran fans were filled with tears. “Premier League! Premier League! Premier League! Now we can proudly call ourselves three-time champions!”

[And the last one——]

Guardiola gave the Big Ear Cup to Batistuta.

【Champions League Champions!!!】

"Yeahhhhhh!" Batistuta grabbed the trophy's two ears and raised it high, "We won the derby! We won the Champions League! For the second time! And for the second time!"

“Ahhhh!!” The atmosphere at the scene was pushed to the climax. The diehard fans sang "Blue Moon" loudly. As they sang, the song turned into a satirical song mocking Manchester United. “Who is the noisy neighbor now? Salute to you, dear Sir Ferguson!!”

……

After the passion, it was time for the old captain to give his farewell speech.

"I came here in 2008, and we have experienced a lot together until now. This place is like home to me. The past three seasons have been great. Thank you, thank you all!" The Belgian defender burst into tears. "I am very happy to win all the championships I can win at the end of my Manchester City career. I - I don't know how to express my most sincere gratitude. Thank you all!"

"We have experienced a great journey together! Manchester City is the best club in the world! It's time to start the next legend!" He took out the captain's armband and put it on Batistuta's arm amid whistles. "I love you! It's time!"

Amid the cheers of the fans, Kompany smiled, stretched out his hand, and held the microphone horizontally.

Five fingers open——

“I’m out.”

(End of this chapter)