[Football] Bad Boy Batty

[Dream come true! Neymar wins the FIFA World Player of the Year award, well-deserved third in the world]
[7 players were selected into the best team, Manchester City became the biggest winner for two consecutive years]
[Master of changing faces, Mbappe is smiling in a photo in the last second and cold as ice in the next second]
[Augustus offered to shake hands, but Batistuta ignored him]

After returning from Italy, Guardiola gave them three days off to celebrate, one of which was a day at the club, just like last season when Batistuta won the award. Neymar took the trophy to Etihad, where officials held a celebration party for him and many fans went to the scene to take photos with the trophy.

Needless to say, five years ago, which Manchester City fan could have imagined that their club would be at the top of Europe and have the World Footballer of the Year?

Now they have it, two of them.

Soon, fans discovered that Neymar's winning of the World Footballer of the Year seemed to be a turning point, and from then on, Manchester City's situation gradually improved.

联赛杯中3-0战胜普雷斯顿，欧冠小组赛2-0轻取克超劲旅萨格勒布迪纳摩, 随后又在英超联赛中以2-1战胜狼队。

Although they only moved up from 5th to 4th place in the standings, three consecutive wins in all competitions have relieved much of the haze hanging over their heads.

In early October, in the 10th round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged Everton away.

The Toffees were once a bitter rival of the Blues, but City have beaten them in their last two visits to Goodison Park. In this match, Guardiola's team hopes to win four consecutive games in all competitions.

For Manchester City, Laporte is still injured, David Silva is temporarily wearing a substitute vest due to calf discomfort, and for Everton, the head coach confirmed that Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes will be absent.

"I hope my coming home early that day didn't ruin your mood."

In the player tunnel before the game, Richarlison hugged Batistuta and Neymar respectively. At Neymar's award-winning party, most people played until late at night, and only a few with families left early. Richarlison did not have a girlfriend, but he also left the scene early.

"Don't worry, nothing can stop Ney and his trophy from loving each other, not even the sky falling!" Batty joked. "I should really take a picture for you to see. This guy has been sleeping with the trophy for almost a week and won't let go no matter how much people try to persuade him."

"Hey!" Neymar was a little embarrassed. He nudged Batistuta with his elbow, hoping that he would shut up and stop talking about his embarrassing stories. The fact that he slept with the trophy was now known to the whole world because Batistuta told everyone about it.

"Who do you blame?" Batty raised his eyebrows. "If you didn't do that, I wouldn't have anything to say."

"But you can't say that to everyone you see, only the trumpet would do that!" Neymar said angrily. He glanced at Batistuta's new hair and suddenly changed direction. "You're still talking about me, aren't you the same? Who said my dreadlocks were ugly before? Look, now you have dreadlocks too. Is it your aesthetic taste that has regressed, or was I wrongly accused before?"

"Wow, you're good. You're able to find new points that leave me speechless." Batty made a surprised expression, pretending to shake the hip-hop style light-colored dreadlocks on his head, and then looked at Richarlison, "This guy can't argue with me, so he started to attack my hair. What do you think, pigeon?"

Pigeon is Richarlison's nickname. Ever since his strange dance at the America's Cup, his personal song, nickname, and logo have all become this cute little creature that can coo.

"You guys continue, don't take me with you, I'll just watch here and cheer you on." Richarlison chuckled and put his hand to his mouth and made a zipper motion, signaling them to leave him alone.

At this time, Everton's captain and center forward passed by and pulled Richarlison to the side.

"The game is about to start, Richard, stop chatting with the enemy, think about what the coach said, and remember, pass the ball to me," said the center.

His attitude was not really friendly, which led Battie to look at him a few more times and decide in his heart that he would find a chance to trip this guy up when he got on the court.

Richarlison didn't say anything, he shrugged and said, "The new World Footballer of the Year over there! I've reserved your jersey!" After that, he said goodbye to Batistuta and Neymar happily and returned to his seat.

Batistuta had been paying attention to his situation before. Since Everton changed its head coach last season, he has not played in the position he is familiar with and suitable for.

If the head coach has been paying attention to the America's Cup, he will know that Richarlison should be played as a center forward in advance. Instead of passing the ball to his teammates, his role is closer to the classic standing (eating cakes) striker, waiting for the opportunity to complete the final shot, or taking away the central defender to create more opportunities for teammates on both sides.

Unfortunately, the head coach won't use him.

Batistuta thought that Everton would definitely not be his final destination. As for where he could go, it would depend on his ability to seize opportunities.

"It's about to start." The referee team kindly reminded as they passed by.

The king of Manchester City pinched the end of his dreadlocks, adjusted his captain's armband, and stood at the front of the team.

The game is the most important thing right now.

They are still hovering on the edge of the Champions League zone.

……

It seems that winning the trophy brings a buff. Less than a minute into the game, Neymar dribbled the ball from the wing and suddenly shot the ball straight towards the far end of the net. Fortunately, Pickford was focused enough and flew to save the ball.

"Well done!" Batty gestured to him from a distance, "Keep it up, we're not far from 3 points!"

Neymar's shot inspired the whole team. Manchester City's advancement was particularly smooth at the beginning, and there was an attack that directly threatened the goal almost every 2 minutes.

In the 13th minute, Batistuta dribbled the ball on the right. Everton's defense was tight. He did not continue to dribble the ball but chose to pass it back 45 degrees. Gundogan followed up with a shot at the back post, but the ball hit the crossbar a little bit short.

Five minutes later, Manchester City intercepted the ball in the midfield again. De Bruyne made a precise pass. Neymar received the ball and shook off Everton's central defender and shot at a small angle. Pickford quickly got down to the ground and blocked the ball.

Manchester City's attack then slowed down slightly.

Everything seemed to be a natural progression. In the 20th minute, Neymar passed the ball back from the flank, De Bruyne passed the ball to the back post without stopping, Batistuta jumped up and headed the ball into the goal near the bottom line near the goal post!

1-0!

Thanks to the perfect cooperation between Neymar, De Bruyne and Batistuta in the frontcourt, Manchester City took the lead away from home!

"You're crazy!" Neymar ran towards him as fast as he could. "You're so close to the goal, you might not be able to head the ball and even get yourself knocked out!"

"Only an idiot would hit the door frame!" Batistuta hugged his neck, felt the force on his body being lifted up, and raised his feet back in a rather delicate manner, "I'm just crazy. I don't know if this crazy goal is worthy of our new World Footballer of the Year?"

"Is that even a question?" Neymar pinched both of his cheeks and pulled them up and down in a childish way, "I declare that you have passed!"

……

In the 25th minute, Manchester City got a free kick opportunity in an excellent position.

De Bruyne, Neymar and Batistuta stood in front of the penalty spot.

"Who's coming?" the Belgian asked.

"Bati, come on." Neymar covered his mouth and said, "You feel good today."

"Okay." Batty agreed readily. "Shoot directly?"

"can."

"Ney, you go to the front, Kevin, you go to the back, and I'll be in the middle." Batty quietly deployed, "Use this position, we can trick the human wall."

Neymar and De Bruyne had no objection.

The three of them stood, each looking as if they were about to kick.

Neymar pretended to kick the ball into the corner and kept glancing at the legs of the human wall and the corner of the net. Everton was fooled and the main central defender urgently called on his teammates to lie down behind the human wall to prevent the ball from rolling on the ground.

De Bruyne kept talking to his teammates in front of the goal, as if he was going to cooperate. Batistuta argued with him from time to time, pretending to have different opinions on whether to score at the front or back point. "Get ready!"

Neymar takes a run-up.

Batistuta followed closely behind. The human wall didn't react at all. When Batistuta completed the shot and the ball was in the air, they jumped in panic. One of the defensive players even raised his neck and tried to block it with his face.

But it doesn't help.

Batistuta's free kick went over the wall and headed straight for the upper right corner of the goal. Before Pickford could make a save, he saw the ball rush into the net.

The first half is almost over, Manchester City 2-0 Everton!
"I'm back. I feel like I'm back!" Batty celebrated standing there. He raised his arms and made a scale gesture, as if he couldn't choose between the two sides. "Maybe, this game can end in a big score?"

……

Near the end of the first half, Batistuta dribbled forward from the wing.

The 2-goal lead made him relax a lot, and he thought about dribbling the ball himself, but soon, four Everton defensive players surrounded him, one blocked the referee on the baseline, one blocked the linesman, one used the star in his hand to pull to attract the referee's attention, and the last one kicked him.

Batty didn't hold on. He stopped when he needed to. After rolling twice on the grass, he sat on the ground and bent his knees to check his ankle.

"How are you?" De Bruyne came over and asked.

"It's okay." Batty touched the area from his ankle to his shin guard. "It's not a big problem. It's just a minor injury."

At this time, Everton fans in the stands were unhappy. They shouted "diving" in unison and asked Batistuta, the liar, to get up quickly and stop trying to deceive the referee and get a yellow card.

"Kevin, look, they are so unreasonable." Batty complained as he stood up. "It was clearly their player who kicked me, and now they are accusing me of diving."

De Bruyne smiled.

“That’s how fans are,” he said.

The referee was certainly not fooled. He stepped forward and taught Everton players a lesson, and said there would not be a next time. This was a serious violation. If he saw them rushing towards people instead of the ball again, he would show them a red card.

"Well said!" Batistuta deliberately moved closer and gave the referee a thumbs up in front of all the Everton players. "Football needs fair referees like you!"

The Everton defender was about to get angry, but the referee stopped him.

"Go back, gentlemen." He bit the whistle in his mouth and signaled the players to return to their positions. "This is the court. No provocation or fighting. Go back. The game is about to begin."

Batistuta gave the opponent a smile, then proudly returned to his right side.

De Bruyne saw the whole process and he couldn't help laughing. Batistuta really changed and learned to be sarcastic. If he had encountered this in the season when he first came, he would have stood up and confronted that guy, and then both of them would have been sent off with a red card.

He pursed his lips to prevent himself from smiling too obviously.

So cute.

……

Manchester City is in very good shape, or rather, Manchester City's strikers are in very good shape, so good that the mistakes made by the defense can be ignored.

In the 70th minute of the second half, Guardiola was ready to make a substitution, Phil Foden was ready to replace Neymar.

Just before Neymar was substituted, Batistuta and Jesus switched positions to the middle, and then made a cross pass before falling to the ground. Fernandinho's strong shot was saved. Neymar adjusted and made a supplementary shot. The ball hit the post and bounced back into the field, and fortunately came to Neymar again.

It was like God was feeding him the ball.

Neymar volleyed again, and Pickford, who had already made three saves, had no choice but to watch the ball fly into the net in front of him.

3-0!

Guardiola celebrated passionately on the sidelines and half of the bottle of water in his hand spilled onto the broadcast camera. If the camera was not waterproof, he would probably have to worry about compensation again.

……

After the game, Batistuta and Neymar talked to Richarlison again. He didn't perform well today and only got a passing score of 6 points. It's not his fault. When a player plays in a position that is not suitable for him, it is already quite remarkable to get a passing score.

After the interview, they returned to the locker room.

As soon as I entered, I saw everyone standing there in a crowd. This usually indicates that something big is happening, such as Barcelona's 16-17 reversal of Paris in the 6-1 season, Barcelona's reversal by Roma in the 17-18 season, and Liverpool's 0-3 Barcelona and then a comeback last season.

Wait, why does it always seem like Barcelona is involved?

"Come on my dear friends, tell me, what happened again!" Batistuta clapped his hands and walked in with his chin raised, "The timing is wrong, there is probably something wrong with the league again. Let me guess, a big score? Manchester United? Did they suffer a tragedy? Can I open the champagne to celebrate!"

"Oh no, no, no," Lucas looked up from the crowd. He stretched out a finger and shook it at Batistuta. "You are half right. It is indeed a big score, but it is not Manchester United."

"What a shame." Batty smacked his lips. "Then tell me directly, which unlucky guy got beaten by a big score again?"

"You'd never guess." Lucas gave him a 'shocked' look, "It's Tottenham. They just finished the Champions League group stage. Remember, they were in the same group as Bayern."

Bayern?
Oh well, no wonder, they Germans just love to commit massacres.

"What's the score?" Batty asked.

"9-2," Lucas said.

"...Say it again?" Batty scratched his ear. "How much?"

"9-2!" Lucas glared at him, "You heard it right, Bayern 9, Tottenham 2!"

Batty: ...

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

9-2?

Bayern to Tottenham?

"Oh! Tottenham let Bayern beat 9-2!" Batistuta screamed in disbelief. "Jesus-damn-Christ! Someone explain to me how we were tied by such a Tottenham team last month!"

(End of this chapter)