[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Stones seemed like a different person in overtime. If he looked like a zombie when he came on as a substitute, he was like a superman in overtime.

However, the Iron Shield Chelsea lived up to its reputation. After 30 minutes, neither side was able to score again. The score of 2-2 was maintained until the end. The Carabao Cup final ushered in a penalty shootout.

"Phil, listen to me, you're the first one."

Taking advantage of the few minutes of water break, Batistuta found Foden and said to him.

"Ah?" Foden didn't expect this. "Then you--"

"I'm the last one," Batistuta said. "Don't be nervous, don't look at the goalkeeper, just kick the ball, just like in training, kick it in the position you are most comfortable in."

Foden looked at Batty with some complexity for a few seconds, then nodded, "I understand."

"Come on, Phil," Batty said, giving him a hug. "I believe in you."

Looking over Foden's back, the King saw a green figure approaching. He gave a fake smile and then refused before the other party could speak.

"I'm not letting you take a penalty, Eddie," he said, "not even if Pep wants you to."

"I haven't said anything yet." Edson spread his hands.

"Come on, I know what you're going to say when you stand here." Batty rolled his eyes at him, "Just focus on goalkeeping, be good, and we'll find a chance to make your wish come true next season."

"Like when you got the chance to guard the goal before?"

"Yes." Batistuta said without any burden, "I swear (on Pep's hair), it's exactly the same as the chance I got to be the goalkeeper."

Ederson finally left with peace of mind, put down his hand, turned around and saw John Stones standing there pitifully.

He is still blaming himself for the handball and the missed man.

Batistuta said nothing. He walked towards Stones and hooked his hand on the back of his neck.

"Lower your head."

Stones lowered his head obediently, their skins touched, their body temperatures merged, equally hot. A drop of sweat ran down the England defender's brow to the corner of Batistuta's eyes, then slid down his cheek to his chin.

Looking closely into the other's mature brown eyes, Batty smiled and then whispered a prayer.

“God is with you and me,” he said.

Stones' upper lip trembled, but in the end he didn't say a word. Anxiety, regret, and expectation were mixed together. He was too nervous and he couldn't hear anything now.

Batty didn't force him. He gently tapped the cheek of the tall defender who was lowering his head in front of him with his fingers, and then gave him a reassuring smile.

"Believe in your teammates, we are Blue Moon, we are not soft eggs."

After saying that, the king let go of the defender and turned to the Chelsea captain to pick sides with the referee.

It was a long time before Stones looked up.

He let out a shuddering breath.

no problem.

……

Chelsea took the first penalty, but unfortunately, Werner missed the first one, while Foden scored it steadily, which gave Manchester City a slight advantage in the early stage.

The Blues did not let down again. Manchester City's Gundogan, Zinchenko and Rodri also scored their penalties, making the score 4-4. The whole audience's attention was focused on Batistuta.

Batistuta bumped fists with his teammates and walked to the penalty spot with the ball.

[Just watched it, Batistuta scored, the game ended, Manchester City won the championship, Batistuta missed the penalty, 4-4, the penalty shootout continued. ]

Batistuta kissed the ball and adjusted it repeatedly on the grass, trying to put himself and the ball's "qi" into the same field and maintain the same rhythm.

How to punish?
A blind spot?
Or try a spoon?

After thinking about it, Batistuta decided to do as he had just said to Foden and kick the ball at the angle he was best at and liked best.

[beep——]
The referee blew the whistle, Batistuta stepped back, ran up, and shot!

He chose the upper right corner.

[Bang!]
【比赛结束了！凯帕猜对了方向但无法扑出这球，巴蒂角度刁钻，5-4！曼城总比分7-6拿下本赛季英联杯冠军！5年4冠！蓝月军团，谁与争锋！让我们祝贺曼城！】

"Won!"
"Ahhh-"
“Total victory!!”

At the moment of the final penalty kick, everyone rushed towards the corner flag area frantically. Only when such joy was freely shared with the fans could the game be considered complete.

From a distance, Batistuta saw De Bruyne and B Silva from the bench also rushing up. The Belgian was only wearing one sock and was walking briskly. His ankle looked no different from usual, so there shouldn't be any big problem.

He soon followed, but then he was knocked down by someone.

“What the hell—”

When Batistuta saw clearly that it was Stones who had tackled him, he swallowed the curse words in his mouth.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Stones' voice was almost drowned out by the cheers of the entire stadium. "We won, we held on! I'm sorry, I - we won!"

Batty patted him on the back.

"Don't apologize," he said. "We're going to win the season, for sure. I said it."

Soon Stones let go of Batistuta, who stood up and brushed away the grass clippings. Stones was still lying on the ground, kneeling with his fists clenched and his forearms supporting his head.

Batty noticed a slight tremor in his shoulders.

Ah, Johnny Boy is crying. Buddy smacked his lips.

Okay, it’s okay to cry, it’s a good way to vent.

……

After celebrating his first title of the season, Batistuta was ready to drive home, covered in champagne. He had just sat in the driver's seat when an uninvited guy appeared on the passenger seat next to him.

"What do you want, Kyle?"

"It's okay," Kyle Walker slumped in Batty's passenger seat. "I finally won, so I came to talk to you about 5 pounds."

"Ha." Batty laughed loudly, "You have five seconds."

"No way, 5 pounds, only this much time?" Walker waved his hand in disbelief, "You know, this is enough to buy a hot dog and a cup of coffee at a convenience store."

"Yes, I'm too expensive for you to afford." Batty said with a fake smile, "Come on, what do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is..." Walker suddenly cleared his throat and his expression became serious, "You saw it, right after the game."

"what did you see?"

"Right next to you."

"What!" Batty's patience has reached its limit. This is not the court, where he can 'beat' and 'insult' his players to his heart's content. "Don't make me guess. If you don't tell me, I'll kick you out."

"Okay, okay, Stones." Walker raised his hand to indicate his harmlessness and said a name that made Batty willing to give him a few more seconds. "Our Johnny Stones cried at the end of the game. Although he didn't cry while hugging you, you were there and must have seen it."

Batty paused. "I saw it," he said. "So."

"Have you ever seen him cry before?"

"Of course I haven't seen him before." Batistuta curled his lips. "In the 17 Champions League, we lost to Real Madrid. After the game, he cried like an idiot in the shower."

"I didn't expect that, but you have to go talk to him anyway, and it can't just be £5," Walker said. "At least give him £500 of his time."

"I was going to do that even if you didn't tell me." Batty rolled his eyes at Walker, but given that he was concerned about his teammates, there wasn't much sarcasm in the roll.

"That's good," Walker agreed, "but - I want to give you some more information."

"Like what?"

"For example, a big part of the reason why he has been up and down recently and always absent from training is because of problems in his love life," Walker said.

Batty raised an eyebrow, "Go on."

"It started last year during the pandemic. He started dating a girlfriend behind almost everyone's back, and then they broke up in less than three months. Then within a week he started dating a younger boyfriend, and they broke up too. On Halloween he started dating a much younger girlfriend, but she cheated on him in less than two months. Then he got back together with the younger boyfriend, and then they broke up again. It almost made it to The Sun."

Batty: ...
Batty: ...Wait what?

When Walker started talking about her boyfriend, his brain started to have trouble keeping up, and when Walker mentioned breaking up and getting back together again and again, he felt like he almost didn't recognize the word.

"Yes, it's outrageous, isn't it?" Walker nodded seriously.

"It's not too outrageous, it's very, very outrageous." Batty brushed the strands of hair on his forehead, "I always thought John was a person who didn't like to fall in love, and even if he did, he would be very loyal."

Walker shrugged and said nothing.

"He was working on his relationship," Walker said. "But unfortunately - he didn't tell me, but I felt like he was having problems figuring out who he was."

"Know yourself?" Batty repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Even if..." Walker didn't know how to describe it. He scratched his neck. "I don't know, so I came to you. You are an expert, aren't you?"

"I'm an expert? Don't be ridiculous." Barty sneered, "I don't even have a regular date."

"Tsk tsk." Walker showed a disgusted expression, "You don't have a regular date? What's the matter, do you think we are all fools?"

Batty's eyebrows jumped.

"Forget it, that's not the point today." Walker waved his hand and naturally turned the topic back to Stones under Batistuta's warning eyes. "Anyway, you have to go and enlighten him. Putting aside other things, you are still his captain."

The car was quiet for a while.

A few minutes later, Walker got out of Batty's car and whistled as he watched the car go away.

"I can only help you so far." Walker said to himself, "Please seize the opportunity, my friend, and don't let me down."

……

On the other side, Stones fell on the bed as soon as he got home. Just before he fell asleep, he used his willpower to force himself to take a shower.

But just when he was ready to have a comfortable sleep, he heard the doorbell ring.

"Who the hell!"

The English defender rushed to the door with great anger. There was only one person who knew the password of his front door and would press the innermost doorbell frantically.

"I swear to God, Kyle! What if you—eh?" He opened the door, and it wasn't Kyle Walker standing outside.

"Bati?" Stones asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to see you, Johnny boy." Batty waved the flowers in his hand. He had time to buy a bunch of pink roses before coming. "My two goals saved you from being scolded, so why don't you invite me in and sit with you?"

(End of this chapter)