[Football] Bad Boy Batty

"It was a handball foul! He didn't believe me and I should have gone to see VAR, but he didn't! I don't understand why! Is he crazy?"

In the locker room, Batistuta angrily scolded the referee. He sat in front of the locker, carefully took off the captain's armband, and then took off his dirty jersey and threw it on the ground without caring. Loach handed him a rolled black towel, Batistuta shook it open angrily, and then draped the towel over his shoulders.

"I guarantee with my character that the ball was definitely a foul!" he said indignantly, "After the game we should sue the referee! Or the English Football Association! Or anyone! Someone must be held accountable for this!"

At this time, Guardiola walked in with a bald head. He closed the door. Judging from the force with which he closed the door, he was no less angry than Batistuta.

"Yes, Batistuta, it was probably a foul and we will certainly take action, but that's for after the game and we have to focus on the second half now." The head coach came to the middle and took over the entire locker room.

Just now, he quickly browsed several key points in the first half from Arteta's tablet, which made him realize the points and problems of Mourinho's tactical design. But knowing that there is a problem is one thing, and finding a way to change it is another. In the limited 15 minutes in the midfield, Guardiola can only do his best.

"First of all, control your emotions, everyone. Our opponent is Manchester United, not the referee. There were no yellow cards in the first half, which is good. I hope we can maintain this, at least until 60 minutes." Guardiola said, he pulled over the tactical board, "Look here--"

"When we advance with the ball, Gundogan is targeted, and Augustus and Lingard are pressing him. At this time, Batistuta is free and is in a weak defensive area. We need to pass the ball out as soon as possible. We need to make more use of the upper wing!" Guardiola spoke very quickly, and so did the red and blue magnets on his tactical board that were changing positions upright.

"Cooperation! Everyone, more two-on-one, three-on-two, we need to use more people against fewer people, don't let yourself be surrounded. If you are surrounded by defensive players, on the wing, try to create out-of-bounds balls and fouls, Batistuta, Neymar, we have to break through, be smart!"

Guardiola let go of the tactical board, clapped his hands, looked around the locker room, and looked at every player.

"It's not easy, guys. Manchester United is an opponent we need to pay special attention to in the league. I won't overemphasize the derby, but you should pay attention to this. Now we are 5 points behind them. In a few minutes you will go on the court to play the remaining 45 minutes. The result is up to you. Whether you walk out of the court with a smile or give up, the decision is up to you!"

"We will never give up!" Batty pulled off his towel and stood up. He took over the coach's words and used practical actions to stimulate the adrenaline of his teammates, "Come on guys! Vamos!"

"come on!"
"Let's gooooo!"
"Vamos!"

……

In the second half, Manchester City's mental state was much better. They were no longer filled with anger and had no interest in the game like they did at the end of the first half.

Not long after the game started, an unexpected incident occurred on the field.

Augustus fell to the ground during a fight with Otamendi. After examination by the team doctor, it was confirmed that he had a sprain and could not continue the game. Mourinho had to replace him with James in an emergency.

His injury is closely related to Otamendi, but the referee's behavior today was too abstract. After refusing Manchester City's request to check the VAR to determine whether there was any suspicion of handball in the first half, he also refused Manchester United's request to give Otamendi a yellow card. Similarly, he did not check the VAR.

Batistuta watched Augustus being helped off the field by the team doctor, and his heart remained calm.

“It’s so fucking confusing.”

"Indeed." Aguero patted Batistuta's arm and said, "Don't think too much. Now is our chance."

That’s right, no matter how outrageous the referee is, now is a good opportunity for Manchester City to counterattack.

In the 65th minute, Batistuta fought for the ball on the wing and got a throw-in for Manchester City. With this throw-in, the Blue Moon Army quickly changed its attack route. Perhaps because of the dominant data in the first half, Wan-Bissaka made a wrong judgment and did not remind his teammates to mark Zinchenko.

Zinchenko dribbled the ball forward, and Wan-Bissaka followed up to steal the ball, but he forgot that there was Neymar behind him. At the moment when he changed his target, Neymar immediately started to move forward.

"broken!"

Zinchenko passed the ball back to De Bruyne, who made a straight pass without stopping the ball, but Neymar had already moved into position in advance and just left Wan-Bissaka behind to receive the ball smoothly.

【Beautiful! In the second half, Manchester City finally played their best cooperation! Let's see this time, Neymar entered the penalty area, Maguire passed! Pass - Aguero! Break through De Gea's ten fingers, 1-2! Not long after the start of the second half, Neymar made a wonderful pass and Manchester City scored a goal! 】

After scoring the goal, the Manchester City players did not celebrate too much. Aguero waved his fist and quickly fished the ball out of the net. Time was running out, so they had to hurry up and score a few more goals.

Mourinho couldn't sit still anymore. He came to the sidelines and watched the game with a serious expression.

Augustus' departure has a huge impact. Manchester United has lost an excellent passing point and an absolute main force to restrict Manchester City's midfield. Without him, De Bruyne and Gundogan will be much freer, and the key point to targeting Manchester City's weak midfielder lies in this.

Moreover, Mourinho knew that Guardiola knew his tactical design.

Then what should be done?

"Go back! Everyone, go back!" The Portuguese said to Maguire, who had taken over the captain's armband, "We can't let Manchester City get up (morale), go back to defend, compress, just like in training, hold on to the score of 1-2, hold on to these 3 points, do you understand?"

Maguire nodded and quickly passed on the coach's order.

With about 30 minutes left, Manchester United retreated across the board, leaving only Mbappe roaming in front, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack with speed.

In order to win, there is no point in parking the bus. Mourinho walked back and forth on the sidelines with his arms folded. No matter how ugly the lineup looks, the final score is the key.

Between excitement and scoring, he always chooses the latter.

……

First, the captain was fouled and sent off without any comment from the referee. Then they conceded a goal and then were asked to retreat to defend. The anger in the hearts of the Manchester United players could no longer be suppressed, and their defensive movements became increasingly larger.

In the next 10 minutes, the referee's whistle kept blowing and players were fouled one after another. Most of them were wearing blue jerseys at the beginning, but as the tension grew, many players wearing red jerseys also joined the tumbling army.

In the 78th minute, Lingard intercepted the ball and knocked down Neymar during the fight.

"Hey! How many times has this happened?" Batty was the first to rush up.

But many of them were directed at Neymar, but at the referee. "He was almost kicked to death, sir!" Batistuta spread his hands and tried to let the referee see Neymar's pain, and showed the marks on his body after being knocked down. "We are players, not match balls! Even if we collect and exchange them, we should meet the requirements, otherwise we will have to fall down a few more times!"

I don’t know if the referee took Batistuta’s words to heart. After Neymar was knocked down four times, he finally showed the first yellow card of the game.

"finally!!"

Batistuta blew a whistle and gave a thumbs-up to the referee with both hands, but only he knew how much sarcasm and how much sincerity there was in it.

Yellow card + free kick.

Manchester City is satisfied, but Manchester United is not.

"He didn't use any force at all! It was just a light touch, it was clearly a dive!"
"Yes! If you want to give him the cards, you should give him the cards!"
"Liar! King of fake falls! We didn't do anything!"

Manchester United players surrounded the referee and asked for an explanation. Batistuta ignored them and came to Neymar. Neymar had not stood up yet, but just half a minute ago he waved his hand to refuse the team doctor from entering the field, which showed that it was a fatal injury.

"Are you okay?" Batty asked, squatting down.

"Okay." Neymar blew a few breaths, then stood up with the help of the grass. He stretched his shoulders and gave Batistuta a look that said 'it's not easy'.

"Isn't it?" Batty answered him with his eyes.

"Who's going to take this (free kick)?" De Bruyne came over again, "Bati?"

"Yeah." Batistuta responded. He tucked a few dreadlocks behind his ears, obviously not wanting to make eye contact with the Belgian midfielder.

"You can try to shoot directly." Neymar suggested, "Try to shoot hard."

"Row."

"Manchester United's wall is quite high, you should control it." De Bruyne said, he did not intend to respond to Batistuta's small move. When he put himself at a higher level, those inadvertent small targeting became cute.

Batistuta didn't answer. He put the ball away and motioned Neymar and De Bruyne to stand further away.

[This time, Batistuta was in charge of the free kick. It seems that Manchester City does not have a fixed penalty taker. Of course, with Neymar, De Bruyne, Batistuta, and B Silva, they can also try their hand at the free kick. With so many powerful penalty takers, it is a good solution to let the players decide for themselves. It is a happy trouble. ]

Targeting the lowest point of the human wall, Batty decided to throw a curve ball.

Back off and run forward.
The ball went around the wall and headed for the blind corner.

[Ding!]
The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out of bounds.

[Just a little bit! Batty's free throw was of extremely high quality, but he was too focused on the angle and wanted to hit a tricky shot, which was a pity. ]

Just that——
Batty squatted down a little frustrated, and after pulling out a few pieces of grass, he stood up while blowing his lips.

"Well done Batistuta! We're close!" Guardiola shouted at him from the sidelines, "Come on, let's do it again, as we've practiced!"

……

Regular time is about to end and the game is down to the last 3 or 4 minutes.

De Bruyne successfully intercepted the ball in the midfield and Manchester City launched the final attack on Manchester United's defense. Batistuta was blocked by Theo. De Bruyne quickly judged the situation and then passed the ball to B席. B席 dribbled the ball horizontally and passed it diagonally to Neymar. Manchester United marked him, and Wan-Bissaka pulled and tugged to finally stop Neymar from continuing to advance.

but.

[beep——]
The whistle sounded and Manchester United was sentenced to death.

Wan-Bissaka pulled an opponent in the penalty area and received a second yellow card and was sent off. At the same time, Manchester City won a valuable penalty.

Manchester United players and fans were stunned.

According to the referee's penalty standards in this game, what just happened was not a foul at all, not to mention that it was just on the edge of the penalty area, and Neymar's movements were exaggerated, which might have been a dive.

But no matter how they protested, the decision that had been made would not change. In order to shut up the Manchester United players, the referee ran to the sidelines to watch VAR. This was his first communication with the video assistant referee in this game.

In the end, thanks to Neymar's controversial penalty, Manchester City tied with Manchester United at home, and the hot Manchester derby ended in a 2-2 draw.

With only 1 point, the gap between Manchester City and the top team Liverpool has become 11 points. In the history of the Premier League, no team has ever been able to come back and win after falling behind by such a large margin. The possibility of the Blue Moon Army being crowned the Premier League champion again is very slim.

In addition to the referee, there was another person who shone brightly after the game.

His name is Jesse Lingard.

Yes, it’s not Manchester City’s king Batistuta, nor the French superstar Mbappe, but the zero king Jesse Lingard who was once criticized by fans for having 0 goals and 0 assists in more than half a season.
In this Manchester derby, he scored 1 goal and 1 assist and was named the best player of the game. Sky Sports gave him a high score of 9.5 for his performance, the highest in the game.

Consistent with what Neymar had imagined during the game, Batistuta's name indeed became a hot topic the next day.
However, it was not because of the internal conflict between him and De Bruyne over the ball.

The reason why Batistuta became a hot topic this time surprised everyone.

(End of this chapter)