[Football] Bad Boy Batty

In early August, the Community Shield, known as the opening match of the new season, kicked off at the new Wembley Stadium, with last season's Premier League champion Manchester City facing last season's FA Cup champion Manchester United.

Yes, the first game of the new season is the Manchester derby.

Fans' expectations are high.

In the just-concluded Champions League final, Manchester City defeated Manchester United with the trophy they had won. Therefore, many Manchester United fans shouted slogans of revenge before the game. For Manchester City, this was also a battle of revenge, because the last time the two teams met in the Community Shield, Manchester United defeated Manchester City 3-2.

The fans were in high spirits and the streets of London were filled with red and blue.

In addition to cheering for their respective home teams, there is another protagonist today. His name appears frequently among fans, and the Blue Moon fans, who originally did not want to be overly teased because of his name, also composed a catchy song for him.

he is the one--
Raheem Sterling.

Five days before the Community Shield, Manchester United officially announced that they had poached the happy boy from their city rivals for a transfer fee of 5 million euros, breaking the Manchester United team record. At the same time, the player's salary will increase significantly, from 9800 pounds per week to 28 pounds.

On the day Sterling signed, Augustus personally came forward to shake hands and take a photo with him as a Manchester United shareholder. The photo was on Twitter's hot search for 3 days. Manchester City fans unanimously believed that he did it on purpose to disgust people.

Of course, not only Manchester City fans think so, but the players do too.

"You French people are crazy. I can't believe that Raheem agreed to go to Manchester United!" Batistuta said in the locker room before the game while stuffing shin guards into his tennis socks. He started today, returning from injury after almost two months, and Guardiola hopes he can find his feeling.

"It's because they gave too much." Lucas shrugged. He had been visiting Batistuta almost every night recently, which made him forget everything. "By the way, what you said is a bit exaggerated. I'm French too, I'm not crazy."

"It's not you," Batty stamped his feet. "That bastard definitely did it on purpose. He poached us with a high salary and planned to annoy us in today's game!"

"Ignore Batistuta, that guy just wants to target you. If you really react, then his goal will be achieved." B Silva said, he looked at Lucas, "But speaking of it, you French people do have unusual brain circuits. Last week I saw that Griezmann released another documentary, just like last year, it was still about him struggling over which club to go to."

This is true.
Lucas couldn't argue with that.

"It's a bit strange, but there's no rule against filming, right?" He spread his hands towards Seat B. "Antoine likes this, sharing everything with his fans."

"But this is a bit of a suspense. He still hasn't decided whether to go to Barcelona or Manchester United." B Silva walked up to Batistuta and fiddled with the captain's armband on his arm. "Luki, you get along well with him, go ask him, if he decides to join Manchester United... Ha! All French! What's wrong with Augustus? Do you want to turn the next door into the second French team?"

Over there, Guardiola finished talking with Neymar and De Bruyne. Batistuta's eyes slid from them to B Silva, glared at him, and shook his arm away.

"I don't care if that lunatic wants to form a French second team. It has nothing to do with me. Anyway, come here! Come here!" He called everyone to gather together, and everyone put their arms around each other's shoulders. "No matter how brilliant last season was, it's all in the past for us. Now it's over."

During the holidays, Batty found a lot of high-quality speech videos on the Internet and watched them repeatedly. Of course, pre-match motivation is not something that can be prepared in advance. He has to add passion according to different games.

Now is the time to test.

"We have done enough preparation in pre-season training. I don't want to say anything more. In two minutes you will walk out of the locker room and in the tunnel you will see Manchester United players, such as Raheem."
"Maybe you can give him a hug and talk to him, but as for other people, I don't want you to have any communication with them! Understand!"
"Don't give the opponent a good face, we go on the field, play football, and then win the game! It's that simple, we have only one goal! Defeat the opponent and make a good start for the new season!"

……

Although both have been affected to varying degrees by the departure of national team players for the America's Cup and the UEFA Nations League, neither Guardiola nor Mourinho seems prepared to hold back.

Manchester City used Guardiola's traditional 433 formation without a striker. Only the goalkeeper was a bit unexpected. The Catalan did not choose Ederson but sent out Bravo, who was almost invisible last season.

The back line from right to left is Walker, Stones, Laporte, and Lucas; B Silva partners with De Bruyne in the midfield, and new signing Rodri replaces Fernandinho; the forward line is the Brazilian trio, Neymar on the left, Jesus in the middle, and Batistuta returning from injury on the right.

Manchester United also sent away two underperforming strikers this summer, Lukaku and Sanchez, to Inter Milan. On the second day after the transfer news was announced, someone took a photo of Mourinho going out on vacation in a good mood, and fans joked that this was because he got rid of two burdens that made him have high blood pressure.

From right to left on the back line are Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, and Theo; Augustus partners with Pogba as double defensive midfielders; Sterling and Lingard are on the left and right in the midfield, with new signing Fred in the middle; Rashford is the lone striker at the front.

……

Batistuta was in very good form today. Maybe it was because he hadn't played a complete game in a long time that he was too excited. Less than 2 minutes into the game, he successfully intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, giving Manchester City a very good opportunity.

But because he was too excited, he chose not to pass the ball.

Batistuta brought the ball to the front of the penalty area. In front of him were three defenders, Maguire, Lindelof and Theo, who were already in position. The probability of successfully completing the shot through them was not high. Wan-Bissaka was following Neymar on the left, Jesus was in an offside position, but B Silva followed from the midfield and there was no player to defend him.

If Batistuta passes the ball to B Silva, it will be a very threatening shot.

But he only had eyes for the goal.

Batistuta accelerated and prepared to dribble the ball into the penalty area. He changed his center of gravity and dribbled past Maguire, but failed to get past Theo. Under the pressure of the French defender, he could only shoot hastily.

Compared with his usual shots, this one seemed of low quality.

The ball went wide of the goal.

"Damn it, it's too far off, it shouldn't have happened at all." Batty bent down and picked up his socks, cursing inwardly.

It seems that not playing in the game has a really big impact on the players.

"Calm down, Batistuta." Neymar made a downward gesture to him. "It feels impossible to come back all at once. You have to take it slowly."

Batty raised his hand and gave him an 'ok'.

The ball was given to Manchester United.

……

[Bati played a little too excitedly. Guardiola will definitely have to talk to him when he returns. But it is understandable. After all, he has been injured since the Copa America. It has been two months. This is his first game after his comeback. It is normal.] The commentator said, [Manchester City still has the advantage now. The UEFA Nations League is closer than the Copa America, and the players are more affected. Judging from the first 5 or 6 minutes, Manchester United has not yet entered the state.]

That’s right, despite many fancy moves before the game, when it came to the actual game, Manchester United’s condition was obviously not as good as Manchester City’s.

Sterling had just transferred and had not yet formed a chemistry with Manchester United. Several passes failed to connect. On the Manchester City side, new signing Rodri seemed to be at ease and his cooperation with the front and back courts was quite smooth.

Add to that Batistuta who is almost in an excited state.

In less than 10 minutes, the Blue Moon Army took the lead.

This goal started with a foul. Rodri intercepted the ball in the backcourt and launched a penetrating attack. Pogba hooked De Bruyne with his feet. The referee stopped the game and gave Manchester City a free kick.

"If you show more pain, maybe we can get a yellow card." Batistuta teased and pulled De Bruyne up. He looked at the distance and then at Neymar who was running over. "Who's going to take this ball?"

When Batty asks a question like this, it means he doesn't want to take the penalty.

"I'll do it," De Bruyne said.

"The distance is not close." Neymar stepped on the white foam on the line, "Go in and find him (Bati)."

"Row."

Seeing that the two had reached a consensus, Batti gave them a thumbs up and said, "Cooperate with me and trick them." After saying this quickly, he turned and ran to the door.

Augustus kept staring at him, and when Batistuta stood in position, he switched positions with his teammates and stood behind Batistuta.

"Do you like my gift? A transfer fee of nearly 1 million is really expensive." He whispered into Batistuta's ear, "But when I think about how you'll be so angry about this, I think it's worth it." Batistuta sneered and ignored him.

It's just trash talk, as if no one can stand hearing it.

Neymar made a feint and De Bruyne took a free kick. Batistuta was ready to jump, but Augustus did something sneaky. He gave up jumping to compete for the header and reached his hand through Batistuta's armpit, seemingly accidentally dragging him.

After failing to jump, Batty watched the ball pass over his head, and then was dragged backwards by Augustus.

"Hey! Foul!"

At the moment he fell to the ground and fell on Augustus, Batistuta was still raising his hands to complain and put pressure on the referee. Pogba managed to get the first point, but the direction of the ball made all Manchester United players' hearts rise to their throats, because it was going towards the goal!
Fortunately, there was De Gea, who reacted quickly and successfully blocked Pogba's header.

The ball lost control in the penalty area and bounced towards the midfield.

[Opportunity! No one has the ball now. Manchester City and Manchester United have the same number of players in the penalty area. It depends on which team can seize the opportunity! ]

Batistuta's eyes followed the ball as it flew out. He didn't bother to fight with Augustus. He turned over and got up with his hands on the ground. Although he was a little embarrassed, he managed to keep his body steady.

He rushed towards the ball.

"Theo stop him!"
"Don't break the rules!"
"Squeeze him! Don't reach out!"

Theo was the closest and rushed forward to fight for the ball.

But he still took a step slower.

Batty predicted the landing point and deliberately blocked his position in advance while running.

So now comes the problem.

The ball is going very fast and the distance is very close. There are defensive players behind me so I can't make any adjustments. If I'm not careful, I'll lose the ball.

what can we do about it?

Batistuta didn't even think twice, he jumped up with all his strength and headed the ball towards the goal!

[Beautiful! The King of Manchester City rushed to the chaotic battle and shot the ball into the goal of his mortal enemy. His first goal after returning from injury was such a near-perfect fairy ball. He is undoubtedly the first in the post-era! 1-0, 12 minutes, Manchester City is leading! ]

"Ah!" In the stands, Jolin, who was watching the game live for the first time, shouted and celebrated with all the Manchester City fans. She turned around and jumped onto the loach, "I really should have watched the game earlier! I don't know how to tell you, but Batistuta is amazing!!"

"Of course!" Loach held her back, his face full of pride, "It doesn't matter who's the boss!"

……

There were too many players in front of the goal, and Batistuta was squeezed together with Theo and landed together, so he didn't see what happened to the ball at all. He looked through the crowd and saw De Gea angrily fishing the ball out of the net, while Neymar was running towards him with an excited expression.

and so.

The ball went in.

"That arc is so beautiful! I saw the whole process, as if it was just for you - Batty?"

Batty didn't give him the chance to rush over and celebrate.

He ran towards the Manchester City fan area, stopped in front of the corner flagpole, then lowered his head and covered his face, twisting his body to the rhythm of Bad Bunny's new song in his mind, like a dancer showing his body for the first time, with just the right feeling of joy and shyness.

Batistuta was lifted up as the Manchester United players watched in frustration not far away.

……

In the end, Manchester City won the game 3-1.

In the second half, Batistuta scored twice from penalties, De Bruyne assisted Neymar to score another goal, Sterling wasted a one-on-one opportunity, but assisted Pogba to score a goal.

Manchester City got off to a good start in the season, lifted the trophy (shield) and successfully took revenge.

On the way back to the locker room after the interview, Batistuta saw Augustus and he did not hesitate to step forward and taunt him: "You can buy our players, but you can never buy our goals. How does it feel to lose? Oh, sorry, I forgot. You should have been familiar with this a long time ago."

Augustus was not angry because of Batty's ridicule. On the contrary, he smiled happily at Batty.

"Yes, I always lose to you, I admit it, but things will be different soon."

In the face of Batty's disgusted and puzzled look, he suddenly leaned over and explained in Batty's ear with a venomous voice: "Don't worry, dear, I still have a gift for you, you will know soon, at most 10 minutes."

Neuropathy.

Batty rolled his eyes and pushed him away.

"Forget about it. Accept the reality. You can never beat me." He brushed off the non-existent dust on his body and turned back to the locker room.

Behind him, Augustus kept smiling.

This is on the court, Batty.

On the court, there is no forever, this is what you taught me.

……

"What a freak! I told you that French guy was crazy. You know what? I just bumped into him again. He said he had a present for me. Hey! What's that for?"

Batistuta walked into the locker room complaining. Before he could finish his words, Neymar grabbed his arm and took him to the TV. Almost everyone in the locker room gathered here, staring at the content on the screen, their faces full of surprise, exclamation or disbelief.

"What are you doing?"

Neymar held Batistuta's neck and made him face the TV screen: "Look--"

There was breaking news on TV.

Batistuta first saw the big "Breaking News", then looking down, he saw a familiar photo of a player wearing the blue jersey of the French team.

[French striker Kylian Mbappe has confirmed his transfer to Manchester United. He will take over the legendary No. 7 jersey. The two sides signed a 5-year contract with a weekly salary of 60 euros! ]

It turns out that this is the other gift that Augustus mentioned.

Batty opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

(End of this chapter)