[Football] Bad Boy Batty

"I still don't believe it. Were you really not angry when Kevin came to you that night, Batty?"

"God, how many times do I have to tell you before you believe me? I called Kevin that night to tell him about Jam (the cat) and Jolene and Claire's prank, so he left the party and we were too busy cleaning the fan fiction and fan art off the wall to argue or fight."

"I clearly saw his expression change instantly after he answered the phone, and within a few minutes he made an excuse to leave. What else could have caused him to suddenly lose face except for you?"

"I don't know, maybe a contract extension?"

"Nonsense, it wasn't even half a day after he left that you tweeted, @ed the club, and told everyone that you guys reconciled. What kind of game are you guys playing? Are you pretending to reconcile?"

"That's not the case at all. You're overthinking it."

At the end of January, during the Chinese New Year, the 1st round of the Premier League was in full swing, with Manchester City playing at home against the visiting Sheffield United, the second-to-last team.

In the player tunnel, Kyle Walker held Batistuta's arm tightly, firmly believing that Batistuta was lying.

This situation has been going on for some time, to be precise, it started when Batistuta publicly reconciled with De Bruyne. Perhaps it was because this incident caused him to directly lose nearly six figures of pounds in the gambling game. Almost half a month has passed, and he is still brooding over it.

"Stop lying, you must be pretending!" Walker clamped Batty's shoulders and shook him back and forth, "Give me back my money!"

Batty pushed him away and rolled his eyes.

"Who told you to bet so much? It's none of my business." The Manchester City king teased, "Don't you think you know me and Kevin very well? Why don't you say anything now?"

Walker's eyes widened. "What did you say!?"

"And..." Batty raised his eyebrows provocatively at him, "Even if Kevin and I teamed up to cheat you out of your money, what can you do to me?"

"Wow! You admitted it! Listen everyone, this little bastard admitted to cheating money!" Walker grabbed Batty's wrist and said loudly to his teammates.

Barty put on a fake smile, "I suggest you let it go now, Kyle."

"No, even if I catch you until the last minute of the game, what can you do to me?" Walker responded with the same words.

He really felt that the little bastard couldn't do anything to him.

After all, it is match day, and they are in the player tunnel at home, surrounded by multiple broadcast cameras from different countries.

But he was wrong.

There is nothing Batty dare not do. If conditions permit, he can even ask Kyle Walker to eat his studs in front of the whole world.

"Final warning, Kyle, go away."

"The answer is no."

Batty moved the corner of his mouth, and just when he was about to take action——

"Stop, are you two idiots?" De Bruyne stood out from the team. He gave Walker a warning look, then asked him to let go of Batistuta's wrist, and then pushed Batistuta to let him move forward. "(The game) is about to start, why are you still making trouble here, captain."

The word "captain" finally made Batty serious. He straightened his clothes, cleared his throat, and walked to the front of the team with his head held high, like a captain.

De Bruyne watched Batistuta return to his position, left a message to Walker, "Play well, Kyle," and then returned to the team.

Walker suffered different setbacks from these two people, and he was naturally unhappy. He made several annoyed expressions at their backs.

Stones put his arms around his neck from behind and patted his chest to comfort him. "At least this proves that they have really reconciled," he said.

……

In fact, to some extent, Walker was partly right. Kevin was still a little angry about Batistuta letting Courtois in that night.

But Batistuta's willingness to tell him about this made him less angry. He liked being treated honestly, and this also indirectly showed that Courtois was not that important to Batistuta.

It's like a little toy. When you're happy, you can hold it in your hands and play with it intimately, and even eat and live with the owner. But once the owner no longer likes it, the little toy will be thrown away without any burden and never looked at again.

Thinking this through made De Bruyne feel much better.

He knew who Courtois was. That guy never did anything without benefit, but since last year, he kept coming to Batistuta.

Why?

The game time has come and the referee led the players of both teams into the field. Looking at the light-haired figure with frizzy hair at the front of the team, De Bruyne wanted to laugh.

Thank God Buddy was a little bastard, there was no time like the present when he was more genuinely happy about that.

……

Compared to Batistuta's chaotic private life, the situation on the court is much clearer.

Schalke, who are currently at the bottom of the league, are no match for Manchester City. At the beginning of the game, when many spectators had not yet found their positions, Batistuta received a pass from De Bruyne and made a wonderful dribble.

[A typical Brazilian player, full of fake moves.] This is the comment made by the neutral commentator.

Sheffield United naturally did not dare to be careless. The player who was passed immediately turned around to defend. The central defender did not dare to attack rashly. The defensive midfielder and midfielder retreated to put pressure on him. Batistuta held off the defensive players and broke into the penalty area, still making a cross despite being double-teamed.

Aguero received a pass from Batistuta and shot into the empty net.

Three minutes into the game, before the cold wind had cooled and hardened the French fries in the hands of many fans, Manchester City was leading 3-1 at home!

"Beautiful!" Aguero shouted to the stands, then turned around and picked up Batistuta and spun around. "I can't believe it. Did you see my goal? It's like I never missed it!"

Batty raised his head proudly, "I've stuffed the ball down your throat. If it doesn't go in, it's your problem."

"Yes, yes!" Aguero gave Batistuta two wet kisses, "Thank you, little bastard!"

This was the sixth goal scored by the Argentine striker this season. After spending a quarter of a season recovering from an injury and a quarter on the bench, with all the media predicting his doom and even himself thinking that this was the end, he miraculously regained his form and his shooting boots.

"Let us continue to win!"

Ten minutes later, Manchester City's attack continued. Sheffield United made a low-level mistake in clearing the ball in the backcourt. The full-back Baldock did not kick the ball far enough and his teammates did not have time to make up for it, giving Neymar the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity.

Of course he would not let go of such a good opportunity easily.

[I seemed to smell the smell of tragedy. Sheffield United's defenders were too nervous. Being too nervous made mistakes easy. They gave Manchester City a goal. Only 15 minutes into the game, Manchester City was already leading 2-0.]

However, things did not develop as the commentator expected. After taking a two-goal lead, Manchester City slowed down the pace. Guardiola no longer sat and watched the game. He came to the sidelines and yelled at his players. The cameras on the sidelines gave him several shots.

This usually happens when a team is behind, but this is Guardiola, he was not satisfied with his team's two goals in the first half.

Rather than saying Manchester City scored a goal, Guardiola thinks it would be more accurate to say Sheffield lost the ball.

Whether it was Aguero or Neymar's goal, it was all caused by the opponents. You can say that it was Manchester City's long-term training that put pressure on Sheffield United and eventually led to the goal, but in his opinion, 35 minutes have passed since the start of the game, and he has not seen any trace of training from the players.

"Press, press! Always pay attention to the numerical advantage!" Guardiola shouted on the sidelines, "Bati, Batistuta! Come back, you are almost rushing into the audience!"

Batty stuck out his tongue at the head coach and did as he was told.

At the end of the first half, Manchester City launched another threatening attack. Walker used his speed to break through on the right and passed the ball back 45 degrees near the baseline. Batistuta shot directly from the ribs without stopping, and the ball hit the post and went into the net.

[Manchester City's terrifying reign continues, 45 goals in 3 minutes, maybe they can really create a miracle and win the record-breaking season without any wins. Unless their form plummets in the next two months, other teams will have no chance.]

At the end of the first half, Manchester City led Sheffield United 3-0 at home. …

In the second half, Manchester City relaxed a little, the forwards had a more playful attitude (especially Neymar and Batistuta), the offense was not as smooth as in the first half, and there were more operations that made the fans exclaim and made the opponents crazy.

By the 60th minute, the referee had already called three timeouts due to clashes between Neymar and opposing defender Jaden Borg.

"This is humiliating! Sir, you can't just ignore it!" Jayden Borg roared.

Neymar had just done a rainbow pass to him a dozen seconds ago, right in front of his nose. He couldn't and shouldn't tolerate this. These damn greaseballs (a derogatory term for South Americans) ruined football, completely!
Neymar expresses himself with a shrug.

When he is happy, he will use the rainbow pass, and he will continue to use it as long as the rules do not prohibit rainbow passes.

Batty liked his attitude very much and gave him a thumbs up from a distance.

The referee of this game was not one who liked to be in the spotlight. He took Neymar and Jaden to his side, gave them a verbal warning and then let them go back.

A yellow card for a dribbling move? That's too much.

What's more, it is pleasing to the eye.

The fans at the Etihad Stadium applauded the referee for his fair enforcement of the game, but when everyone thought Manchester City's advantage would continue, something suddenly happened on the field.

In the 65th minute, Jaden, who was holding a grudge, tackled Neymar from behind. Neymar screamed and fell to the ground holding his right foot.

"What the hell did you do!"

Before the referee blew the whistle, Batty had already rushed across half the court. Of course, he had not lost his mind. He just pushed Jaden Borg hard with his hand.

"He asked for it! Broken glass!" Jayden Borg had no regrets. He ignored the protection of his teammates and pointed at Batistuta's nose and cursed, "I didn't do anything! He is the criminal, and you still want to hit me, go to hell, you two faggots!"

Batty was furious.

If it weren't for Alandes, who quickly rushed into the field with the team doctor and joined De Bruyne and Aguero to grab him, he might have passed over the heads of Sheffield United players and punched that damn Jaden Borg.

"Don't let him succeed, Captain."
"He is the one who made the mistake now."
"Calm down, Captain."

Batistuta was still emotional, but at least he no longer wanted to kill anyone. He led others to run to the referee to put pressure on him. In the end, the result was good. Jaden Borg, who had committed a foul from behind, was sent off with a red card.

After getting justice, Batistuta ignored Borg who continued to talk bad. He came to Neymar with a frown.

If he was not mistaken, Neymar injured his right foot.

As for the right foot, both the ankle and metatarsal bones have old injuries.

"How do you feel?" Batty lowered his voice. "Does it hurt?"

"…Not so good." Neymar's face was full of pain, "My toes are numb."

Batty's heart sank.
This is indeed not good.

Batistuta glanced at Alandez. The scientific officer couldn't give him an accurate answer, so he shook his head and asked others to help Neymar up, then made a gesture for a substitution.

In the 67th minute, Neymar could not be substituted due to injury and Foden came on as a substitute.

As he passed Batistuta, Foden patted him on the back to show his support, gave him a "pay attention" from Guardiola, and then ran onto the field.

Batty took a deep breath.

Nothing matters now, he just hopes Neymar is okay.

……

As expected, Sheffield United, who were one man down, collapsed. Manchester City finally won a big victory 6-0, maintaining their undefeated record in the league and firmly maintaining the top spot with 63 points.

However, due to Neymar's injury, the Manchester City players did not seem too happy after the game. In an interview, Batistuta scolded the defender and threatened that he should not meet him again, and he would make things difficult for him next time they meet.

Such straightforward remarks immediately aroused dissatisfaction among some people.

But Batistuta was in no mood to care about those saints. After getting off the bus, he rushed to Manchester City's testing room where they were about to transfer Neymar.

"Are the results out?" Batty stopped Alandes outside the door and asked, "How is it?"

"Not very good." Arandez seemed a little worried. "Preliminary examination showed that there was something wrong with his metatarsal bones. It's an old injury, the fifth metatarsal."

"Is it broken, or something, a crack? Or a bruise?"

"Uh, not sure yet."

"what do you mean?"

"It means we have to wait and see." Alandes forced a smile to Batistuta. Now is a critical period for the team. He certainly hopes that everyone is healthy. "I think, personally, the probability of a fracture is the greatest."

fracture.

Damn it.

Batty opened his mouth, but he seemed to have lost his vocal cords and couldn't utter a word.

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think." Alandes patted Batistuta's shoulder to comfort him. "Even if it's a fracture, he will recover in three months at most."

3 months.
An eerie silence fell in the corridor.

Batistuta didn't know where to put his hands. He brushed the hair on his forehead and then turned his head to look at the door. Through the glass on the door, he saw Neymar sitting on the bed with his head down, wondering what he was thinking.

Haha.
Batty chuckled twice.

"It looks like we have to keep winning," he said.

Only if we win enough points in the beginning will we have the opportunity to let the main players rest and let the guys who have returned from injuries find their form.

Get well soon, Ney, Batty thought.

Still waiting for you to hold the cup together.

(End of this chapter)