[Football] Bad Boy Batty

In early December, the temperature in the UK dropped sharply, officially announcing the start of winter. All teams also changed their players into winter clothes, and Batistuta finally understood what Aguero meant by "crying during the game".

He did cry. On the training ground, his tears hung on his eyelashes, his cheeks were abnormally flushed, and his teammates teased him because of his stiff hands and feet.

Of course, it wasn't because of a mistake on the training ground, but because of being frozen.

"It's really weird, how can the winter in England be so cold?"

Batista, who always spends the winter in the warm southern hemisphere or Florida, complained.

Aguero came over with a smile and helped him remove the water droplets hanging on his eyelashes.

"It's not possible now, what are you going to do next?" the Argentine striker joked, "You know, we will play in the heavy snow."

As Guardiola reminded him to put on an extra pair of leggings in the distance, Batistuta rolled his eyes at the sky and raised his middle finger tremblingly.

This is destined to be a difficult winter.

In order to allow Batistuta to adapt to playing in the snow and ice as quickly as possible, Guardiola arranged for him to start again after he rested for one game and was a substitute in two league games.

In that game, Manchester City was in great form.

6-0, they welcomed the first snow in Manchester with a big win.

It doesn't snow in Brazil, and when the Godfather took him to the United States for vacation, it was a warm place. Batistuta was extremely excited that day. He ran all over the field, directing his teammates to pass the ball, and he was quite like Thomas Muller, a free man in the frontcourt.

He assisted Aguero, De Bruyne, and Sane to score goals, and he also scored two goals himself, ranking fourth in the Premier League scorer list with 7 goals.

The only regret is that the game was an away game.

That night, all of Manchester City's first-team players and assistant coaches hid in the dark and admired the rare scene of Batistuta lying on the ground, making a fan-shaped pattern in the snow and opening his mouth to catch snowflakes. Someone took out his mobile phone to record this precious scene.

"This is a normal 17-year-old kid." Aguero patted De Bruyne on the shoulder and said with relief.

The old father Guardiola behind him also showed a kind smile.

all in all--

In a cheerful atmosphere, Manchester City ushered in another focus battle in early December, as they will host Chelsea at home.

Previously, Manchester City ranked second in the Premier League with 30 points, and Chelsea was in first place with 2 points.

Therefore, this "Double Blue Meeting" will still be a battle for the top spot.

According to the weather forecast, it will be a rare sunny day.

So, three months after moving to Manchester City, Batista finally made his Premier League home debut.

……

On the day of the game, Batistuta drove to the Etihad Stadium nearly two hours in advance.

As it was too early, there were not many fans waiting outside. Batistuta signed autographs for them and took photos with them. Just as he was about to drive into the basement, a little fan who was led to the car by his father caught Batistuta's attention.

The little fan was a boy, about 6 or 7 years old. He wore a jersey with the number 9 printed on it, and a pink gauze skirt on his lower body.

He was holding something in his hand, as if it was a gift for his favorite player, but because he was timid, he did not dare to go up and talk to Batistuta.

Seeing Batty stop, the father smiled at him apologetically: "He likes to wear skirts, so he is always excluded at school. You gave him the courage to face it all."

Batistuta didn't quite understand what the father meant, but looking at the look on the young fan's face, he knew what was going on. So he opened the car door and got out despite the security guard's dissuasion.

"Hey, come here, little guy." He squatted down and put his arm around the boy's shoulders, and said in broken English: "I have a question for you, are you here to watch the game?"

Facing the children, Batty showed more patience.

The boy nodded shyly. "I want Manchester City to win," he said, "and I want to see you score a goal."

"Okay, I promise you, in this game, you will not only see Manchester City win, but also see me score a goal." Batistuta laughed ostentatiously, "I see you seem to have a gift with you, is it for me?"

The boy nodded again, and at his father's encouragement he handed the contents of the bag to Batty.

They were a pair of Manchester City socks, with a circle of rainbow colors embroidered crookedly on the elastic band.

"It's so beautiful, thank you." Batistuta kissed the little fan's forehead, "I will wear it to play this game, and then you will see me score a goal with it."

The little fan was about to cry.

"I want to tell you, ignore those who say bad things about you, your dress is beautiful, do what you want to do, no one can tell you what to do with your life."

Batista then told him: "If there are bad boys bullying you, you pull their underwear out and kick their ass. Finally, you tell them that if there is a next time, Batista will find them and kick their ass even harder."

The little boy looked like he was about to faint with excitement, and he nodded very vigorously.

"I certainly will."

……

【……欢迎收看16-17赛季英超联赛第14轮焦点对决，曼城坐镇主场迎战排名榜首的切尔西。上轮拿下热刺后，切尔西已经豪取联赛7连胜，如果本周末能击败曼城，他们将拿到自09-10赛季6年间的最佳开赛成绩。而目前瓜迪奥拉的曼城则在近6轮联赛中4胜2平，同样也保持不败。】

[Now the players from both teams have come to the player tunnel, and we can see - oh? The camera is focused on Batista, the hottest player in Manchester City in recent days. His outfit is a little different from the others. He is wearing a pair of rainbow socks today.]

"I heard them talk about this, Batistuta. I didn't expect you to be so gentle to children." In the player tunnel, Aguero smiled and tugged at Batistuta's socks. "Let me see. They are really nice. They are very beautiful and suit you very well."

"Human cubs are not a threat to me. I can allow them to do some outrageous actions... but adults can't do that." Batty said in a threatening tone, "If you pull my socks again, kun, I'm going to beat you up."

beat him?

Batty wouldn't hit him.

Aguero grinned goofily, then tugged on his socks once more as Batistuta watched.

"…Just stand there and don't run away!"

Just before the two were about to quarrel, Kompany stepped out to separate them. The Manchester City captain finally returned from injury in this game. This was the first time Batistuta played against the opponent. "Stop quarreling, the camera is facing us," Kompany said.

For the sake of the old captain, Batistuta let Aguero go, but the two men's large-scale fights turned into small-scale games, you poked me and I pinched you, until a disheveled guy appeared and interrupted them.

"Hello, little Batistuta, I'm David Luiz." The shaggy-haired guy, wearing a Chelsea jersey, stretched out his hand to Batistuta. "If nothing unexpected happens, we will be teammates in the World Cup in Russia."

Barty raised an eyebrow and held the hand temporarily.

He knows him.

The guy who cried and said sorry to Brazil in front of the camera after they lost 2014-1 to Germany in the 7 World Cup semi-final.

He played very badly in the match against Germany, so Batistuta has never had a very good impression of him.

"You should get on the roster first." The boy looked up, "Because I will definitely go to the World Cup, but you may not."

Luis seemed a little surprised, but he did not react to Batistuta's offensive words. He just smiled, then reached out and ruffled Batistuta's hair, said to him "Good luck in the game" and left.

When he was gone, Batty made an annoyed grumble.

"Why do you always like to touch my hair? It's annoying."

Aguero in front almost couldn't hold back his laughter, but fortunately the time was up and the players walked onto the field under the guidance of the referee team, and Aguero escaped again.

……

Although Guardiola's tactics are very tiring, the atmosphere in Manchester City has been good recently because of Batistuta's lovely performance after training not long ago.

They were very active at the beginning of the game, but Chelsea did not come with the mentality of a draw this time, so there were constant small conflicts between the two teams and the tension gradually rose.

The first conflict broke out on the field when many fans had just touched their seats.

Batistuta broke through from the right and brought the ball into the penalty area. Marcos Alonso, who had just transferred to Chelsea, accidentally touched the ball with his elbow while sliding. Batistuta raised his hand to react to the referee, but neither the baseline referee nor the referee said anything.

[Today's refereeing standards are very... uh, lenient. ]

"What the hell! That handball couldn't be more obvious!" Batty complained angrily, "Did you bring your glasses with you?"

Although there was no subject in this sentence, most people could still understand who it was directed at. Aguero quickly pulled him away, thus avoiding a yellow card.

When the referee is Anthony Taylor, who is no less than one of the Premier League's "Fantastic Four", what else can you say?

Not long after, the conflict broke out again. The Chelsea defender kicked Aguero from the side while disrupting Manchester City's counterattack. Although his studs were not visible, it was undoubtedly a dangerous move.

The home fans booed loudly.

But the referee still did not take any action.

"He wants us to die on the field!" Batistuta shouted at Guardiola on the sidelines, "As long as there is no blood and he is not carried away, it is not a foul!"

Guardiola hurriedly asked the players to tell Batistuta to calm down, as they could not get a yellow card under the current circumstances.

Even though the head coach himself was very angry.

But soon, the Catalan couldn't control his emotions because his player was called for a foul by the referee for a normal tackle in the middle.

A yellow card was given, and Otamendi on the field and Guardiola on the sidelines roared angrily to protest the penalty.

But it's no use.

There has never been a precedent in the history of the Premier League where a yellow card was revoked.

Guardiola could only express his dissatisfaction by waving his hands.

The DJ on the scene could hardly control himself. He led the fans in the South Stand to sing the team song. Then, they shouted out the names of Manchester City players one by one to cheer them up.

Soon after half of the first half, Fernandinho accidentally or intentionally stepped on the outside of the instep of Chelsea striker Hazard during a back-to-back challenge. The latter fell to the ground in pain and left the field within the next 5 minutes to receive treatment from the team doctor.

The two teams fought fiercely, but it was clear that the balance was on Manchester City's side.

Finally, in the 26th minute, Manchester City broke through the opponent's goal.

[Here it comes! The Biography of Silva——]

The ball was in Manchester City's hands. Captain Kompany made a downward gesture, signaling his teammates to pass the ball back to Chelsea's defense line. Then Silva found an opportunity and immediately made a long pass to the frontcourt.

"Barty! Go on!"

Batistuta returned from the wing and easily took the ball off with a jumping kick. Sane, who started the game today, came up to the side. After the German successfully made an offside, Batistuta passed the ball straight to Sane, who rushed into the penalty area.

"A-Kun——"

Facing the Chelsea goalkeeper, Sane suddenly passed the ball back to Aguero who was following up. The Argentine striker raised his foot and shot hard, but there seemed to be something wrong with the angle and the ball hit the post and bounced out.

Just when everyone thought the ball was gone, Batistuta came around from behind and then slid down to the ground and kicked the ball into the net.

【球进了！1-0！上半场25分钟，阿圭罗劲射中柱，后点巴蒂跟进补射！曼城主场1-0领先切尔西。】

"Ahhh Batistuta you are amazing! I thought the ball was definitely gone!" Aguero excitedly jumped onto Batistuta's back. He hugged the furry head and gave it a big kiss. "What would I do without you?"

However, to his surprise, Batistuta, who always celebrated with him in the past, let him go today and rushed towards the South Stand where the home fans were the most enthusiastic.

"See! This is for you!"

Batty shouted to the surging fans, then he bent down, reached out to touch the rainbow on his socks, put his fingers to his lips and kissed them, and finally raised them high.

“I said I would score a goal in them and now I have!”

In the stands, among the crowd, there was a little fan with tears streaming down his face.

(End of this chapter)