[Football] Bad Boy Batty

With three hours left before the Premier League transfer window closes, Manchester United announced the return of Ronaldo at the last minute. Juventus will receive a transfer fee of 3 million euros. Officials said that Ronaldo signed a two-year contract with the team with an annual salary of 2800 million pounds after tax. Out of recognition of Mbappe, he will not wear the No. 2500 jersey again but will wear No. 7 instead.

Soon, Ronaldo's new No. 9 jersey was launched on the official website and was sold out in 12 hours. According to statistics, the sales volume reached 3500 million pounds, slightly exceeding Messi who transferred to Manchester City at the beginning of the month.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately triggered a war among fans.

They have been posting pictures of the jerseys they bought on social media, starting with just one or two and gradually developing into a wardrobe full of them, as if to show off their sales performance.

Mbappe then posted a long article on his personal account to express his gratitude and excitement about competing with his childhood idol. He also mentioned his city rivals Manchester City and posted a photo of him and Batistuta after the classic red and yellow card derby in 2020, saying provocatively that they would see each other in the November derby.

Many people think that he is hinting that the Melo era is over and fans should focus on him and Batistuta next. Of course, Mbappe did not respond to this rumor.

Augustus then spoke on social media, perhaps intentionally diverting attention, he posted a photo of Batistuta when Manchester City celebrated their season-high victory last season, with the caption: Don't worry, we are on the way to catching up, world record, here we come (fireworks)
The entire Manchester United team liked and retweeted the post.

However, until this topic dropped from the hot list, the other person mentioned, Batty, did not make any response.

It’s not because he doesn’t care or anything, but he is working overtime on his recovery training and has hardly paid attention to his social media.

Don't forget, he was suffering from COVID-19.

Although the virus of this epidemic is no longer as deadly as it was at the beginning after months of differentiation, it still has a great impact on the human body after recovery.

With the help of Manchester City's medical team, Batistuta is recovering to his pre-illness state in the shortest possible time.

During this period, the Premier League has been the hottest topic of discussion.

C Ronaldo scored twice and assisted in his first match after returning, Mbappe scored a hat trick, B Fee and Augustus both scored and assisted, and Manchester United defeated Leeds United 6-0. Relying on the advantage of goal difference, the Red Devils topped the Premier League table in one fell swoop.

As for Manchester City, after getting off to a good start with a 2-0 win over Arsenal, Messi scored a goal and provided an assist in his debut, and was inevitably compared to Ronaldo by fans.

But before the fans of both sides could start a quarrel, in the second round of the league, when Manchester City played against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the defending champions unexpectedly lost 2-0 to their opponents and dropped to 1th place in the Premier League.

After the game, the Tottenham coach said that he had carefully studied the Copa America final. He was very happy that the team completely blocked Neymar and Messi. He also admitted that if Batistuta was on the field, he would also be locked down.

Later, Barty, who was about to make a comeback, retweeted the interview. He said nothing, but just added a laughing panda head emoticon.

9月12日，2021-22赛季英超联赛第3轮比赛拉开帷幕，曼城坐镇主场迎战英冠升班马诺维奇。

Batistuta was on the starting list announced before the game.

……

"Look, you guys lose when I'm not here, that's not okay."

In the player tunnel of Etihad, Batistuta wore the captain's armband and jokingly criticized his teammates.

"We didn't lose a single game last season, but two months later we didn't know how to play and Tottenham were able to ride on our coattails."

After turning around, he came in front of Messi.

"Come on, let me know that you are not intimidated by the Premier League." Batistuta stretched out his right fist, "Remember to pass the ball to me later, let me see what a real No. 10 position is like."

"I'll try my best." Messi said with a smile.

"Try your best? No, this is a mission." Batty raised his arm arrogantly and bumped fists with him. "Kevin is not here, so this job is left to you."

Due to playing with an injury for the national team, De Bruyne suffered a recurrence of an old injury during training at the beginning of the season. The team doctor diagnosed it as a muscle problem and he is expected to miss the September games.

Of course, if Batty knew this in advance, he would not allow the other party to find him to do strenuous exercise in the past half month, even if the two things are not closely related.

“——Okay.” After a little surprise, Messi nodded in agreement.

Batty gave him a warm hug.

Just at this time Guardiola also came to the player tunnel, passed Batistuta's neck, and the Argentine cast a surprised look at the head coach.

'Wow-oh,' he said with his eyes.

Then he put his hand on Batty's back and patted him symbolically.

"You see, this is Batistuta." The Catalan shrugged at him and responded with his eyes, "You'd better do what he says, Leo, otherwise even I can't save you."

……

The game began with a whistle from referee Anthony Taylor.

In this game, Guardiola returned to the 433 formation. The midfield and backcourt remained unchanged. Messi replaced De Bruyne in the absence of injury. Gundogan and Rodri appeared on his left and right respectively. The frontcourt consisted of Neymar, Batistuta, and B Silva.

Manchester City played a little nervously after the opening. Although it was mainly because Messi was trying to find the rhythm to integrate into the team, it still takes time to get used to each other and we cannot rush it.

Fortunately, the opponent's strength was limited and the pressure on them was small. After adapting for a few minutes, Manchester City began to get into the game.

In the 8th minute, the Blue Moon Army broke the deadlock.

Stones launched an attack from the backcourt, Gundogan and Messi cooperated on the left and then made a long pass to the right. B Silva received the ball and passed it horizontally without stopping. Batistuta was already in position, but the Norwich goalkeeper made the wrong choice to attack. In order to control the ball before Batistuta, he made a mistake and accidentally scored an own goal with his butter hands.

Batistuta watched as the goalkeeper used a volleyball move in front of him to break through his own goal.

"puff--"

Sorry, he just couldn't help it.

Batistuta didn't know how terrible he was. He actually scared the opponent's goalkeeper into making such a low-level mistake. When the goalkeeper reached out to catch the ball, he was ready to brake and run back.

I didn't expect to receive such a big gift.

1-0, Manchester City leads at home.

"I knew it, Batistuta! You should work part-time as a mascot!" B Silva ran over to celebrate and took the opportunity to ruffle Batistuta's hair. "We scored a goal as soon as you came back, and I have a feeling this won't be the only (goal) today!" Yes, Carragher, the commentator of this game, thought so too.

[The return of the little king awakened the sleeping players of Manchester City. If I hadn't retired yet, I would have asked him to give me a magical blessing kiss on the day of the Liverpool and Manchester City match.]

……

It turns out that Seat B was right.

Ten minutes later, Walker assisted Messi on the right side of the frontcourt, then made a wall pass to the opponent and sent the ball into the penalty area. Batistuta took away three defensive players, and Neymar shot into the far corner at the back post.

Manchester City leads Norwich 2-0.

Near the end of the first half, the Norwich striker took advantage of a loophole in Manchester City's defense and scored a goal, but after VAR intervened, the referee ruled that the Norwich striker had committed a foul first and the goal was invalid.

At the end of the first half, Manchester City temporarily led 2-0.

In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again.

The Blue Moon Army intended to slow down the pace, but Norwich was not up to the task. In the 64th minute, Messi took a corner kick from the right side into the penalty area. Laporte's header was blocked, and then Stones made a follow-up shot to score.

Manchester City extended the lead to 3-0.

Norwich was unable to resist and almost the entire team returned to defense. In the 69th minute of the game, the assist that Batistuta had been expecting from the Argentine finally came.

Rodri dribbled the ball in the backcourt and passed it to Messi after observation. Messi's lateral dribbling was blocked, and he then protected the ball, turned around and sent a straight pass through the gap.

For some reason, the moment he saw him turn around, Batty had a feeling that 'the opportunity has come'. This was not something they had rehearsed in advance, but he just knew it.

So Batistuta quickly changed direction, dribbled past the Norwich defender and sprinted towards the penalty area. Messi's pass came at the right time, and Batistuta didn't even need to make any adjustments before shooting.

4-0, Manchester City secured the victory.

No wonder Guardiola could never forget him, Batistuta thought, this pass was indeed very comfortable.

……

After confirming the three points, Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief. In the 3rd minute, Aguero replaced Lucas and the Etihad Stadium erupted in amazing cheers.

For nothing else.

Just for the first time the Argentine frontcourt combination, which is famous in the football world, will be together in the club.

"Bati, Batistuta!" Aguero, who was substituted in, was particularly excited. "Go up, you go up! As long as Pep doesn't say anything, don't come back, pay attention to your position, and then wait and see!"

Batty understood him very well and gestured that it was okay.

Soon, the game came to the 84th minute.

Manchester City pressed forward as a whole, Gundogan organized the attack, Messi received the ball in the middle of the frontcourt and made a lob pass behind him, breaking through the defense. Aguero followed up after being offside, but was blocked by the defense. He turned around and shot but missed. Batistuta followed up with a shot at the back post and hit the net.

5-0, Norwich was powerless to recover.

"Come on! Leo, Leo! You must try this!" Aguero, who got the assist, became even more excited. He first rushed over and gave Batistuta a big kiss, then waved to his friends to come over.

Messi squeezed into the crowd: "Try what?"

"No, don't--" Batistuta refused again and again. He had guessed what Aguero wanted to say, "That's a boring thing to do. Now I'm the captain, it's time to end it."

Neymar let out a strange cry, and he also knew what Aguero wanted to do.

"Yes! You should try it, Leo, that's Manchester City's tradition!" He ran to the side to cheer, "Don't say we are superstitious, this is based on reality. Every time we do that, our subsequent games will go smoothly. Like last season, we did that in the beginning for every goal!"

"Wooooo! Tradition!" B Silva also joined in the fun, and he remained fearless even when Batistuta gave him a death look.

Messi was intrigued.

"What tradition is that?" he asked. "Does it have anything to do with the captain?"

"It has nothing to do with who is the captain, but it has everything to do with Batistuta!" Aguero almost used brute force to throw Batistuta into Messi's arms, "I wanted to say it when you assisted him to score the goal just now, but it's not too late now! Come on! Leo, lift him up!"

Batty struggled to run away: "Hey! You guys! Stop it!"

"Why are you putting on airs?" Aguero pinched his waist and looked at his friend. "This is a tradition we have had since 16. We must lift him up after a goal. We can climb a tree or use any other method. As long as his feet leave the ground, we will have good luck!"

Batty rolled his eyes, knowing that he couldn't escape this fate.

"Okay, okay, we can continue this tradition." He raised his chin, "But I doubt he can lift me up. I'm almost taller than him...ah!"

Before he could finish his words, Messi carried him up with the help of Aguero and Neymar. The moment he left the ground, Batistuta subconsciously hugged the only support in front of him.

That is Messi's neck.

[Oh my God! Oh my God!] The commentator almost shed tears, [I wonder what Messi feels when he feels the weight on his back. When he was 18, there was also someone who carried him on his back, and now he carries that person's son! Although he is no longer in Camp Nou, this is also another kind of inheritance!]

The fans were deeply moved and the players on the field had a lot of thoughts in their minds, except Batistuta, who thought differently from them.

No wonder Messi is so steady when dribbling past opponents. Sometimes defenders can't stop him. His strong physique is like a turret, he thought.

In the end, Manchester City defeated Norwich 5-0.

However, God loves to play jokes the most. No one knew at that time that this would be the only time that the South American combination in Manchester City's frontcourt would play together.

(End of this chapter)