[Football] Bad Boy Batty

On April 4, in Madrid, Spain, the Bernabeu Stadium was packed with people, and the much-anticipated match between the old and new Galacticos was about to begin.

Half an hour before the game started, in the away team's locker room, Manchester City players used the head coach's tablet to connect with the captain who was recovering from injury at home.

The video was quickly connected. Batistuta took out his mobile phone and took a look around. He was sitting on the sofa in the living room. A live broadcast was playing on the TV opposite. A Spanish reporter was explaining the situation. Loach, Qiaolin, translator Sam, and a group of physiotherapists were all beside him.

"I'm watching you! Everyone! Although my foot is injured, my eyes are still fine and I can see who is daydreaming, so cheer up!" He stretched out his hand and tapped the camera a few times, "Victory! Remember to bring me a victory from Madrid, I need this as the best medicine to heal my wounds!"

"Did you hear that, friends?" Walker, who had just returned from injury, raised his voice and said to everyone, "Our king needs us to bring back a victory. What do you think? Should we give it to him?"

"want!!!"

"Very good! Keep it up! We need this momentum! You are at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid's home stadium, so what?" Batistuta gave a thumbs up to the camera. "Although I can't be there, and although we don't have all the players, so what? We will still win! Believe in yourself, you can do it!"

"YES WE CAN!!"

"Go ahead, everyone! Go and bring victory back to Manchester!" Batty turned the phone over and pointed it at his right foot, then zoomed in. "See the plaster splint on it? In two weeks, it will be removed--"

"Yeah!" Grealish cheered, but then he realised he was the only one doing that, so he made a manual zipper motion around his mouth.

"Thank you, Jack." Batty thanked Grealish first, "but my point is, since it appeared on my foot, I have only allowed 1-2 people who performed well in each game to sign on it, and the score cannot be lower than 9.0. Now there are only a few people's names on it."

He adjusted the camera and filmed every shot carefully for his teammates to see: "Play well in this game! When we win the championship, I will tattoo all the names on this plaster and the Big Ear Cup on my body!"

Batty returned to the camera, smiled warmly and firmly at everyone, and then blew a kiss.

"Work hard, everyone! I hope everyone's name will be there on the tattoo day! Come on! Beat Real Madrid!!"

"OHHHHHHHHH!"
"Beat Real Madrid! Win the Champions League! Beat Real Madrid! Win the Champions League!!"
"Go! We all have to appear on him!!"

……

After putting down the phone, Batty breathed a sigh of relief.

The words he used to motivate his teammates were all true, and he really believed in their ability, but under the influence of the existing lineup and actual conditions (playing away and him as captain having to lie at home), he was also really nervous.

What should you do when you are nervous?
Batistuta took the yogurt pudding prepared by Niqiu and opened his Tik Tok to quickly shoot a short video with the caption: Before the game against Real Madrid, I was so nervous that I couldn’t eat. Come and cheer for Manchester City with me (strong) (strong) (love)

From editing to color grading, and from color grading to dubbing, it took him nearly 40 minutes in total. By the time he adjusted the video to the perfect state and clicked publish, the competition had already started for some time.

"Oh my god, I missed the start!" Batistuta complained loudly in frustration, and then took a big mouthful of pudding into his mouth, "I can't see the little man above clearly, who remembered Real Madrid's lineup?"

"I remember -" Loach raised his hand and followed the broadcast camera to explain to Batistuta, "On the back line, there is Carvajal on the right, Mendy on the left, Militao and Alaba in the middle, the one who was in Bayern before; Casemiro is no longer in the midfield today, Kroos and Modric's partner is Valverde; on the front line there is Veni on the left, Rodrigo on the right, and Benzema in the middle."

Barty licked the spoon and narrowed his eyes.

"With this defense, I can go in and out of the penalty area almost freely if I'm on the field," he said. "But Manchester City's defense is not much better. Why do I feel like today will turn into a goal-scoring battle?"

"You mean there's a chance of scoring more than three goals?" the translator interrupted, mainly to divert attention from Batistuta's inability to play. "Although neither team focuses on defense, the probability of that happening shouldn't be high."

"Why not? Just look at Real Madrid. Not to mention the back line, Valverde is responsible for clearing the midfield. I admit that this kid is very good at harassing people and running, but if you ask him to replace Casemiro to intercept, he can't do it, like now." Batistuta raised his chin, and the screen just happened to show the scene of Rodri's successful pass to B Silva. If Alaba hadn't kicked the ball in time, it would be hard to say how the ball would have ended up.

"What about us?" the translator asked again, "Do you think we will be detained a lot?"

"Emmm, Real Madrid will score. Both Venetian and Rody are very strong. I believe they will threaten our goal." Batistuta said pertinently, "But I believe in our defense. I also believe in Eddie. He is familiar enough with their style. I guess the final score will most likely be 4-2, us 4, Real Madrid 2."

The interpreter fell silent.

He also believed in the team, but based on his years of experience and the direction of the handicap before the game, the bookmakers were very optimistic about Real Madrid winning at home without considering the inducements, so he chose to keep silent.

"Hey! Batty, I saw you!" Qiao Lin waved her phone over there. "Are you so nervous that you can't eat? Are you serious?"

When she asked this question in a teasing tone, Batistuta had just finished the last bite of yogurt pudding. The Manchester City king licked the corner of his mouth in satisfaction and narrowed his eyes.

"True." He said slowly, "I was nervous and couldn't eat, but this is yogurt pudding, not ordinary food, so it doesn't count."

Qiao Lin gave him two middle fingers and mouthed "You're just a little liar", then went back to looking for materials on her phone.

Twenty minutes into the first half, there was still no goal.

……

However, the situation on the field soon changed. The further the game went on, the more solemn Batty's expression became, and he really couldn't eat anything, including unusual desserts.

【Goooooooal! Benzema! Modric's wonderful pass tore through Manchester City's entire defense line, and the French striker scored the winning goal! This also made him the first Real Madrid player after Cristiano Ronaldo to score more than 40 goals in the Champions League knockout stage! 】

Barty's lips were pressed into a straight line.

He guessed the beginning, but he never guessed the ending.

The two teams did put on a very exciting goal battle in the eyes of the fans. The defense of both sides was quite poor, but the side that scored more goals was Real Madrid, which had the sieve defense line called by Batistuta.

In the end, Foden assisted Neymar and B Silva to score, Modric assisted a hat-trick, Benzema scored twice, Vinicius Kroos and Valverde scored, and Real Madrid beat Manchester City 4-5 at home.

Looking at the battle report sent back from the previous game, Batty was silent for a long time. Then, in the silence, he hung up all the calls to him.

And everyone here refers to his teammates, who had just lost the game and were in urgent need of comfort.

Courtois was right, Batistuta thought, Manchester City really lost, and he could only sit on the damn sofa at home and do nothing.

This is all his fault.

Because he was injured, he was unable to stand up when the team needed him most. Courtois is right, it was his fault and he should repent.

So Batty fell into a kind of vicious circle.

He didn't dare to answer his teammates' calls because he felt guilty about not being able to help the team, and he felt even more guilty about not being able to fulfill his duties as captain because he didn't dare to answer his teammates' calls.

That night, Batty stared at the ceiling and couldn't fall asleep for almost the entire night.

The next morning, he calculated the time, got up and called his old captain Vincent Kompany, whom he once regarded as a role model. At this moment, he was the only one who could help him.

It seemed as if Kompany had known that Batistuta would call. After only two rings, the Belgian defender, who had become the head coach, immediately picked up the phone.

"Hey Batistuta, I guess you didn't sleep well last night." Kompany opened with an unexpected remark.

"Yeah, you're right." Batty laughed dryly. "Did you know I would call you?"

"Yeah, you ignored your players, and some people were anxious and called me directly to ask me what to do." Kompany's voice was still as heavy and soft, "I know you guys will not make me worry, even if you win all the games this season."

Did someone call the old captain because he didn't answer the phone?
Batty was a little surprised.

"Who called you? Vinny?" he asked.

"John Stones." Kompany sold Stones without hesitation. "I was the one who brought him here. He trusted me. But you didn't answer his call last night. He got drunk and cried to me on the phone that he had let you down."

"What?" Batty was even more surprised. "He's sad because he feels like he's let me down?"

"Yes," Kompany said, and then he suddenly realized the question in Batistuta's tone. "Why, didn't you not answer the phone because you wanted to teach them a lesson? I watched the game and they did a really bad job."

"No, no, I uh, I—" Barty bit his tongue lightly, "I thought I was the one who let them down."

This time it was Kompany's turn to be surprised: "How could you think that, Batistuta! You were injured and you didn't play at all!"

"If I hadn't been injured I would have been on the pitch, and Real Madrid's defense was also very bad. If I had been there, the result would have been different." Batistuta finally spoke his mind. "I'm sure when we were behind they were thinking on the pitch: Oh, we're behind, why isn't Batistuta here? If he was there we wouldn't have lost."

"That is NOT CORRECT!" Kompany even used very formal English to correct Batistuta. "Listen to me, Batistuta, you are punishing yourself for something that doesn't exist. I used to think that you were not of the character to make such a mistake, but I was wrong."

"…What does that mean?"

"What I mean is, there are too many things in the world that need to be expressed with 'if'. If you didn't provoke on the court, if you jumped when the opponent stretched his legs, and so on, there are too many things like this. Don't compare things that didn't happen with things that did happen!" Kompany expressed his meaning in an urgent but clear tone.

He went on to say: "Do you know that while you were cutting off contact with your teammates because of 'what if', Real Madrid was training and preparing seriously for the second leg! Batistuta, you are the captain, do you really want to delay yourself and the team because of something that doesn't seem to bother you?"

Kompany's words were like water mixed with ice poured down from above his head, completely waking up Batistuta who was indulging in mistakes.

He was wrong. He was so wrong.

I clearly understood this truth on the day I was injured (focusing on the present), but why did I suddenly stop understanding it after losing to Real Madrid?

It was no one's fault for this loss, or rather, it is very irrational to pick out someone's fault at this time. The second leg of the game will be played in less than a week. What they have to do now is to find the main reason why they lost 5 goals and then make up for it to the greatest extent.

"I understand, Vinny." Batty's voice became firm again. "I won't waste another minute, but - I don't know where I'm needed right now. Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Maybe you can spend more time at the club and training ground during this time," Kompany said. "People always believe what they see with their own eyes. For example, you may be in a wheelchair, but - maybe that can inspire their desire to fight from another perspective."

Of course, the second half of the sentence is a joke.

"But that would take up time for me to do physical therapy and recovery," Barty said. "If I recover at full strength, the doctor said I could be back on the court in nine weeks."

"Well, I understand." Kompany expressed his understanding, "If you can't recover wholeheartedly, the time may be extended and you will not be able to catch up with the final."

"But if we lose to Real Madrid in the second leg, there will be no final." Batistuta answered his own question in a strange way.

"Yes, that's right." Kompany was happy that he could figure it out, but he was sorry that he could only accomplish one of the two things. "I won't advise you to make any decision, captain. After all, it depends on you (It depens on you)"

Now, it's time for Batty to choose.

……

With five days to go before the match, the atmosphere at the Etihad training ground was not very good, but halfway through the program, a guest arrived on the field.

In other words, a family member has returned.

"Hey guys!" Batty sat in a wheelchair with a very arrogant attitude, pushed by Loach, and entered the training ground like an emperor patrolling, "Did you miss me?"

Everyone was surprised.

Including Guardiola.

Only the chairman, the translator and a few others knew that Batistuta had returned to the club. The purpose was to give the players on the field a shock, as their brains needed to start working again after being defeated 3-5 in that game.

"Why...why are you here!"
"Look, it's Batty!!"
"Go back quickly! Your bones are not healed yet!"

Although some people came forward to surround their captain, quacking like a group of geese in the park, they had different ideas. Some, such as Stones, were very happy that Batistuta came to visit them, while others, such as Guardiola, were very dissatisfied with Batistuta for sneaking over despite his injury.

But no matter what, the entire training ground seemed to come alive again.

"Stop crowding around, guys." Batistuta lazily waved his hand to shoo them away. "Do you know why I came here? It's not because I'm disappointed with your performance, but because I just can't understand how you could lose with Real Madrid's weak defense."

As soon as these words came out, everyone fell silent.

"Have you figured it out now?" Guardiola asked with a frown.

"No." Battie said frankly, "So I came, I want to watch you train, from now on until the day I can walk, I will always be with you, until I find the answer." Many people were surprised.

"Are you going to come and watch the training every day?" Guardiola asked incredulously, "What about your recovery and physiotherapy?"

"What should we do? Just give up." Batty narrowed his eyes and waved his hand innocently like a cartoon character. "I said, we are a team, and the team should stay together. No matter what the final result is, we have made efforts."

Having said that, Guardiola no longer stopped him.

"Go, go to training." Batty looked at everyone, "If anyone is tired, you can come to me. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

……

Time passed little by little, and soon, the day of the second round of the game arrived.

Before that, the other group of the Champions League semi-finals also ended quietly. Manchester United defeated Liverpool 3-0 at home without any suspense. But unlike what many people guessed, Augustus did not provoke Batistuta on social media, contrary to his usual practice. He was quietly watching and waiting for the outcome of the next game.

May 5, Etihad Stadium, Manchester.

Batistuta arrived at the venue early by car, but there were still a large number of fans who arrived earlier than him. They were wearing Manchester City jerseys from different periods, with blue paint on their faces and holding huge banners in their hands. They have been loyal fans of Manchester City for decades.

"We believe! The final winner must be Manchester City!"

Batty asked Loach to stop, he opened the window, signed their autographs and took a photo with them.

"Thank you, thank you for your support," he said. "I also believe that Manchester City will be the final winner. Our team has magic, and we are a team full of miracles!"

Then Batistuta entered the court and was pushed to the locker room by Mudfish. He did not give a passionate speech like in some hot-blooded youth comic. Just like in the previous few days of training, Batistuta hugged and fist-bumped everyone.

He also did not mention that the opponent after entering the final would be Manchester United, nor did he mention that they would re-stage the Manchester derby in the final, or that they could not lose to Manchester United, because they all knew it.

"Come on, Kevin."

Batistuta hugged De Bruyne for an especially long time. He returned from injury today. Batistuta didn't want him to have too much pressure, so he didn't tell him about Courtois' calls to him before the first leg and in the past few days.

"I will." De Bruyne bent down and kissed Batistuta's cheek, taking the opportunity to get as close to the corner of his mouth as possible. He is the acting captain today. "I heard that you wanted a victory in the first round, but you didn't get it in the end. I swear, we will get it back for you today."

"Yeah." Batty looked up and showed his signature smile, "I always believed in you."

……

After saying goodbye to his teammates, Loach pushed Batistuta to the VIP box where Chairman Mubarak was also. They didn't talk much, but just kept the atmosphere in the room not too tense.

"You're a good captain, Batistuta," the chairman said suddenly.

Batty looked back at him for a few seconds.

"I know," said the Manchester City captain, "you're a good chairman too."

Mubarak also laughed.

"I know." He said the same thing as Batty.

They looked at each other and their smiles got bigger.

"They are good players and good coaches." The chairman added, "Together, we are an invincible team."

"That's right," Batty concluded. "We won't let the fans down. We are the only ones who will make it to the final."

【The game is about to start. Players from both sides have already stood in the player tunnel. Manchester City's captain's armband is on De Bruyne's arm. In the first round, the two teams met at the Bernabeu. Real Madrid defeated Manchester City 5-3. Since UEFA abolished the away goal system, Manchester City needs 2 more goals, so the game will go into overtime. They also have more chances to surpass Real Madrid. Manchester City has maintained a perfect record in the Champions League for two seasons at the Etihad Stadium. How will they perform when they return to their home court this time? Let's wait and see.】

……

The game officially begins.

Everyone on the Manchester City side played with 120% spirit. With the advantage of playing at home and Casemiro not yet adapting to the rhythm after his return, Rodri and De Bruyne cooperated to break through the Real Madrid midfield defense at the beginning of the game. B Silva moved smartly and received the ball near the goal post and passed it horizontally, and Foden followed up and shot!

Courtois reacted with a save but was unable to prevent the ball from entering the net.

【The ball went in! The game just started 6 minutes ago! Taking advantage of Casemiro's mistake in the backcourt, Manchester City scored an early goal to narrow the gap. Now the total score is 4-5! There is only one goal left. I believe Manchester City fans have rekindled their hope! 】

No, that's not accurate.

The hopes of Manchester City fans have never been extinguished.

"Ohhhhh! Bernardo! Great pass!" Batistuta almost jumped up when he saw the goal on the field. "I know you can do it! Go ahead!"

In the end, it was thanks to the chairman pulling him that the excited team leader avoided falling off the wheelchair.

But this happiness did not last long.

Ancelotti learned a lesson from the first leg. He understood that scoring goals was not the main thing, but defense was the key. In addition, Casemiro quickly found the rhythm, and Real Madrid's defense suddenly became as solid as a city wall.

The score remained 1-0 until almost 70 minutes into the second half.

[With more than 20 minutes left, Manchester City is one goal behind and the team is having trouble opening up the field. Perhaps it's time to put in some impactful players. Let's see how Guardiola will adjust.]

The camera was pointed at the bench, and the players that the fans were most looking forward to were not there. Yes, they were already warming up.

In the 69th minute, Manchester City made the first substitution.

Messi replaced Neymar and Grealish replaced Gundogan.

"Come on!" Batty almost leaned on the glass. "Try harder, you can do it!"

He was right.

They can.

In the 75th minute, the man with a sarcastic nature fell down while confronting Valverde on the left. The referee decisively showed a yellow card and gave Manchester City a free kick in an excellent position.

Messi stood on the penalty spot.

[Oh! Real Madrid should be careful! The one who will take the penalty is the Argentine who is more accurate in free kicks than penalties. Statistics show that he has scored more than 30 goals in a similar position in his career! ]

"Do you believe him?" Chairman Mubarak suddenly asked Batistuta. "He and another person really dominated the football world in the past 15 years. When people learned that he would join, they went crazy."

"People went crazy after our amazing season," Batty said.

On the field, Messi stood in front of the penalty spot. He is not the type who would take many run-ups. He usually uses his eyes to measure the distance and judge the goalkeeper there.

"Is he a Manchester City player?" Batistuta asked.

"Yes," said the Chairman.

"Do you believe in Manchester City players?" Batistuta asked again.

"Believe it." The chairman replied again.

"Then you should believe him." Batty shrugged. "It's that simple."

【梅西！球进了！你永远可以相信那个任意球比点球稳的男人！他来到曼城不是雪中送炭，他来到曼城是锦上添花！2-0！现在总比分来到了5-5！再进1球，只要再进1球！曼城就能反杀皇马获得决赛门票，他们能做到吗？】

……

Can they do it?

Batty is asking himself this question, too.

There are less than 3 minutes left in the game. If no more goals are scored, both sides will enter overtime or even a penalty shootout.

Can they score one more goal?

Soon, De Bruyne proved to everyone with practical actions that they could.

[There is one minute left in injury time, Laporte, Manchester City has the ball in the backcourt, yes, don't worry, pass it to Rodri, then forward, Messi - Grealish protects the ball, falls to the ground! No whistle, no whistle! And! Messi - De Bruyne, give it to - De Bruyne!!!]

Courtois saw him with the ball and knew he was going to shoot, but he still couldn't stop it.

【The ball went in!! De Bruyne! The winning goal! Manchester City played a beautiful teamwork. At the last moment, they did not panic. With a determined search, they finally found Real Madrid's flaw! Militao was shot from behind, and De Bruyne pushed the ball into the near corner! ! The Real Madrid goalkeeper was helpless. De Bruyne knew his national teammate too well. 3-0! The total score was 6-5! Manchester City qualified for the final! 】

The Belgian goalkeeper knelt on the ground and pounded the grass in front of him.

He lost, again.

……

“Ahhhhh! I win, I win!!”

This time Batty really jumped out of his wheelchair. If there were cameras in the VIP box, this medical miracle would surely shock the whole world.

"Watch out! Your legs, your legs!" The chairman was quite helpless. Of course, he was happy for the team, but at least he had to ensure that the captain around him would not suffer a second injury. "Bati, sit down quickly, Loach! Come and help, we will take him - Batty! Don't run!"

Batty doesn't care about that.

The Manchester City king rushed onto the field to celebrate with his players even though he was limping on one leg.

So such a funny scene appeared inside the Etihad Stadium. Batistuta was trying to use crutches to jump on one leg to rush out in front, while Chairman Mubarak and Loach were chasing him quickly in a wheelchair, but they just couldn't catch up with him.

When De Bruyne received all the blessings and wanted to run to the passage to share them with his captain as soon as possible, the person he was thinking of rushed towards him at lightning speed and jumped into his arms with his injured foot.

"Keeeeeevin!!"

De Bruyne can't describe how he feels right now.

"We won." He leaned close to the little king's ear, trying not to touch his right foot. "We won. I didn't lie to you."

"Well, we won." Batty leaned on him like a koala. "If I could, I would like to kiss you right now."

De Bruyne wants to too.

"Get down." He ordered, "You are still injured, don't be willful."

"No." Batistuta refused. They won, they beat Real Madrid, he could be as willful as he wanted. "You don't know what Courtois said to me on the phone. I want this victory so badly."

De Bruyne raised his eyebrows: "What did he say?"

Batistuta didn't answer the question, but just grabbed De Bruyne's back.

"Come on, Kevin," he said, "let's go around in front of that guy and piss him off."

(End of this chapter)