[Football] Bad Boy Batty

晚上9点, 2019-20赛季欧冠1/8决赛皇马同曼城的比赛首回合在伯纳乌球场拉开帷幕。

"Come on! We have practiced thousands of times on the training ground for this day! We have to show them with our actions that we will win this game, and win every game in the future! This is our time! Okay? Vamos!"

Batistuta completed his final mobilization before the game. As captain, he clapped his hands and walked out of the locker room first.

The moment you step into the player tunnel, the first thing you see is the iron railing that divides the entire tunnel into two, making you feel like you are in a prison. This is a unique feature of the Bernabeu. It is said that it was built to prevent players from both sides from fighting in the tunnel during the national derby.

It’s really – weird.

Batty looked at the railing from top to bottom. Although he had seen this "wall" when he was on the court, he couldn't help but pay attention to it when the actual game started.

"Hey! Batty, this way!"

Following the sound, Batistuta looked to the other side of the railing, where the Real Madrid goalkeeper was waving at him. After chatting so much online, Batistuta unconsciously associated the other person's image with those meme pictures, and suddenly heard the call, he almost didn't react that this was Courtois' real voice.

"Hey." Batty leaned over with his arms folded, responding not very warmly. "Theoretically I shouldn't talk to you, we are opponents." He said slowly.

"I know." Courtois smiled and put on gloves, "but I still can't help wanting to meet my lovely online friend and hear his voice. I want to know if he is as interesting in real life as he is online."

"If you dare to say the word 'cute' again, I'll pull your nose off." A photographer walked in from the entrance, and Batistuta threatened in a low voice while maintaining his decency. "Besides - you already know me. We played many games in the Premier League before, and we even kissed once. Do you remember?"

"It wasn't just a kiss. I didn't sleep well for three days after the match (because of the pain)." Courtois deliberately made his words ambiguous. "For me, it was an unforgettable experience. What about you, Batistuta?"

"Of course." Batty parried easily, "I still remember the feeling of your teeth hitting my lips to this day."

"Want to do it again?"

"Again? You mean we collide again during today's game? No, I think forget it."

“Maybe after the game.”

"I thought we were going to go to the pier and get some chips after the game."

"Haha! You really like Seagull Terriers!"

“I didn’t hide it at all.”

"Well then—I'll come find you after the game."

"If City win, of course."

The two smiled at each other across the grid-like railing.

Not far away, B Silva watched Batistuta and Courtois chatting animatedly, patted Ederson's arm behind him, and asked quietly: "When did they become so familiar with each other?"

"Who?"

"Bati and... Real Madrid goalkeeper."

Following B's gesture, Ederson looked over, but he didn't find it strange.

"What's the big deal? Batistuta has the widest circle of friends among us," Ederson shrugged. "It's no big deal to know a Real Madrid goalkeeper. Last time I saw him and Charles Leclerc (F1 driver) liked a post and made an appointment to go out and play together."

Makes sense.
Seat B nodded and stopped asking questions.

No one noticed that a figure wearing the No. 17 Manchester City jersey hurriedly passed by them.

"Bati, long time no see!" Vinicius' voice rang out, interrupting the banter between Batistuta and Courtois.

"How are you doing lately, Vinicius?" Batty became more enthusiastic and sincere in front of his compatriot. He quickly glanced at Vinicius and said, "You are much stronger than the last time I saw you."

"Yes!" Vinicius raised his arms to show off his muscles. "I've worked very hard. The coach said I can knock down two cows. Your defense should be careful!"

"I'll remind them."

"By the way, Batistuta, where's Neymar?" Vinicius asked, adjusting the zipper of his jacket. "I've been looking for him since I came out, but I don't think I've seen him. He's in the starting lineup, right?"

"He is." Batistuta looked back and saw that there was indeed no Neymar in the passage. He shrugged and said, "I don't know. Maybe Pep is still holding him to tell him something, or maybe he is tired and is still replenishing his nutrition--"

"What are you talking about!" Neymar rushed over from the stairs and hit Batistuta on the butt with his wrist guard. "You little bastard are plotting against me again!"

"Sorry, it's my fault, you're weak." Batistuta smiled nonchalantly, apparently apologizing to Neymar, and then mouthed to Vinicius, 'He's just weak.'

Vinicius laughed without giving any face.

Neymar hit Batistuta with his wrist guard again. Batistuta turned around and raised his eyebrows at him, and at the same time made a small gesture of twisting the corners of his mouth to hint. Neymar stared at him with wide eyes and accused him with his eyes: Whose fault is this!
"Hey, you guys, why are you still chatting?" Ramos came over and waved his hand. He grabbed Vinicius' collar and kept him away from the railing. "The game is about to start, so get nervous. Otherwise, don't blame Sese for not warning you!"

Batistuta didn't take it seriously at all. He turned to face the Real Madrid captain and said: "I hope you are ready to be sieved, dear."

"Really?" Ramos didn't react to the provocation. He pushed Vinicius and Courtois to stand and smiled very officially, "Then let's give it a try."

……

Following the referee team, players from both teams entered the field.

Batistuta had bad luck today. He failed to guess the coin in the referee's hand. Ramos gave Batistuta a kiss from a distance and happily accepted the right to choose the side and kick-off in this game.

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the starting lineup.

For Real Madrid, goalkeeper Courtois; left back Mendy replaced Marcelo, the central defender partner is still Varane and Ramos, right back Carvajal; midfielder Casemiro partnered with Modric, Valverde on the left, Kroos temporarily sat on the bench; Vinicius was on the left on the striker, Isco replaced Bale on the right, and Benzema was at the front.

Manchester City's side was a little surprising. The goalkeeper was Ederson; on the defensive line, because Otamendi had a yellow card, Stones' partner was replaced by Eric Garcia, a young player who has performed well this season. Lucas and Walker were still the left and right full-backs; Gundogan replaced David Silva in the starting lineup in the midfield, Rodri was in the middle, and De Bruyne was on the right; on the forward line, the NB combination was separated on the left and right, and the Portuguese B Silva was arranged in the middle. The two center forwards Aguero and Jesus were both placed on the bench today.

[beep——]
With the referee's whistle, the game officially began.

After the opening, both Real Madrid and Manchester City were very cautious and did not speed up the game right away. As the game progressed, the fans were surprised to find that Manchester City's arrangement in the front court was quite different from what they imagined. Today, the Blue Moon was using a 442 formation to press high. Using two strikers to limit the opponent's backcourt passes, forcing them to move to the wing, thereby maximizing the effect of high-pressure pressing. In fact, this is very common in Manchester City's games, but usually the ones left in front to press are Aguero and Batistuta, Aguero and Neymar, or Jesus and Batistuta, Jesus and Neymar.

But today, Guardiola put both center forwards on the bench, leaving only the NB group in the frontcourt, using more intense pressing to restrict Real Madrid's two flanks. Whether it is the full-backs joining in to help press or passing the ball from the bottom line, Real Madrid's offensive means mostly rely on the flanks, so cutting off the connection between the two sides becomes particularly critical.

Of course, when switching from defense to offense, Manchester City's formation will change again. B Silva and De Bruyne will rush forward and join forces with Batistuta and Neymar to form an almost 4-forward offensive formation.

Out of fear of Real Madrid and considerations of the first leg away to the Bernabeu and the unstable backcourt defense, Guardiola hopes to find as many gaps as possible while consuming the opponent, maintain a draw and win, get away goals to ensure advantage, and the remaining problems will be better solved when they return to their home court for the second leg. He believes this is the best result.

In the 7th minute, Carvajal's mistake almost gave Neymar a one-on-one opportunity, but fortunately Varane came back in time to regain the ball.

Under the command of Ramos, the French central defender pretended to move forward with the ball, and then made a long pass to the left. Walker made an accurate prediction and stepped forward to restrict Vinicius. Batistuta saw that Mendy was about to receive the ball, so he followed Walker to fight for Vinicius to prevent him from cooperating with Mendy to pass the ball.

Vinicius was a little embarrassed after being robbed, but he still stopped the ball and passed it back to Modric who came up in the midfield. Modric dribbled forward, Gundogan and Rodri were ready to steal the ball, and when they were fighting for the ball in the midfield, Valverde kicked Gundogan's calf and committed a foul. The German midfielder fell and the referee blew the timeout whistle.

The attacking team committed a foul and Manchester City gained possession of the ball.

When the referee stepped forward to ask about the fallen Gundogan, Batistuta patted Vinicius on the head in a friendly manner near the center line: "You stopped (the ball) well just now," he praised.

"Thank you," Vinicius whispered.

Batistuta saw that his head was furry and looked very nice to the touch, so he couldn't help but pat and rub it. Vinicius acted a little shy, which made Batistuta look like a bully on the court who was bullying his opponent.

There was a burst of boos at the Bernabeu.

In the 10th minute, Manchester City attacked from the left sideline, but lacked coordination and was intercepted by Real Madrid. This was exactly what Guardiola was worried about. Ramos passed the ball to Vinicius, who immediately accelerated after receiving the ball. At this time, Walker was retreating to the ribs, and Valverde was in front of Rodry, so Batistuta immediately retreated to fight for the ball.

Vinicius was very fast, and Batistuta tried his best to catch up with him just past the center line, but speed alone was not enough to disrupt the counterattack. Batistuta blocked his position and squeezed his dribbling space, while at the same time secretly twisted Vinicius' shoulder.

The game did stop, but Vinicius fell heavily to the ground.

Manchester City was called for a defensive foul and Real Madrid got a free kick near the sideline, but the referee only gave Batistuta a verbal warning and was not prepared to give him a card.

"Hey!" Vinicius got up and opened his arms. "He pushed me! That's our chance to fight back!"

It was clear that he thought Batty should be given a yellow card.

"Don't act like a Winnie. Do you think I don't know what happened just now?" Batty turned his back to the referee and shook his head and chuckled at Vinicius. "That move was very light. At most, it would only make you stagger a few times. It was not me who made you fall to the ground at all."

"No, no, I'm not acting, Batistuta," Vinicius defended himself, "You used a lot of strength, I didn't need to dive."

"Come on, we both know how hard I'm going to use." Batty hooked his neck and patted his chest, "Don't overdo it, everyone is watching. Just now, even a pillow couldn't be knocked over, let alone you who have a good physique."

Whether there was diving or not is a common question on the court. There will be no result, not even at the end of the game. The referee separated them and ordered the two teams to stand still and continue the game.

They can argue but they won't argue too much. They are all Brazilians and former teammates. It is unnecessary for them to fall out over this.

Batistuta let go of Vinicius, waved his hand and returned to his position.

The boos got louder.

……

In the next 15 minutes, Manchester City attacked Real Madrid's left side, which was the right side where Batistuta was.

Under Guardiola's arrangement, the Blue Moon Army has increased a lot of long passes directly from the backcourt. Real Madrid's midfield has not made any mistakes so far. This method allows them to run more, consume energy, and increase the probability of possible mistakes in the future.

Stones took the ball, dribbled and observed, then kicked it to Batistuta.

But he didn't pass the ball well, the force was too strong, and judging from the air, the ball didn't go out of bounds, so Batty could only step back and try to catch the ball. Ramos switched to the left, and he and Batty jumped up at the same time to compete for the header. The two collided in the air and then fell to the ground.

The ball was headed out of bounds.

Unfortunately, it was Batty who headed the ball in the end.

The linesman raised the flag and the ball was given to Real Madrid.

"What kind of pass is that, John?" Batistuta cursed softly and got up. Guardiola on the sidelines was a little dissatisfied with the loss of the ball, which also stimulated Batistuta. He ignored Ramos who also fell behind him and turned around to defend the out-of-bounds ball.

And just like that, the King of Manchester City brought even louder boos from the Bernabeu.

From then on, every time he got the ball, whether it was a short pass, a back pass, a retreat to defend, or even a transition point, the home fans booed him continuously.

In the 16th minute, Batistuta received a pass from De Bruyne on the flank. He chose to dribble the ball on his own. Under the double-team of Mendy, Valverde, and Vinicius who was returning to defense from deep, Batistuta continued to dribble and got to the edge of the penalty area.

[Beautiful pass! Manchester City's chance! ]

Ramos decisively stretched out his foot to block the ball. Relying on his rich experience, he teamed up with Varane to defend the goal. He showed off his skills in front of his own penalty area and cleared the ball from Batistuta without committing a foul.

Batistuta rolled twice in front of the goal and stopped, opening his arms towards the referee.

The referee indicated that there was no foul.

"Who said they were going to pass me just now?" Before returning to his position, Ramos patted Batistuta's cheek in a teasing manner and whistled: "Practice for a few years before you say that, kid."

The Real Madrid captain ran away, and the home team stands cheered at the right time.

Batistuta hissed in annoyance, then swung his arms and returned to his own wing. Before Courtois kicked the ball out, Batistuta glanced gloomily at the stands waving pure white flags.

They are so annoying.

(End of this chapter)