[Football] Bad Boy Batty

"So, you are troubled by the fact that you didn't win the physical match this time." Neymar concluded after listening to Batistuta's description.

"——You can say that." Batistuta replied with his eyes downcast. He was curled up next to Neymar, sipping the sobering tea brought by Loach.

"I think you're going in the wrong direction." Neymar turned to look at him and said, "Those confrontations you lost brought us a penalty, a free kick and two yellow cards."

"No, no, I don't mean - of course it has to give me something, otherwise it would be too weird." Batty scratched his hair irritably. He felt that he couldn't explain it clearly. "I mean, penalties, free kicks, fouls or yellow cards, they are all additional items. If we change to a referee who is lenient in making penalties or the opponent's tricks are more covert, then we may not get any benefits."

The cat walked past them, wagging its tail, and then curled up on the armrest of the sofa. Neymar reached out and wrapped his tail around it, and the cat purred comfortably.

"——and I shouldn't have lost so many confrontations." Barty paused and said, "The data is obvious. Who knows why those damn media haven't started to criticize me yet? Maybe it's because we won the game? And it was a score close to that of a volleyball game."

"Okay, let's go down the list." Neymar let go of the cat and turned around to pat Batistuta's calf. "Do you have an answer as to why we lost the match?"

"Of course, otherwise why would I be unhappy." Batistuta kicked Neymar's arm in a complaining manner, "Can you please speak properly instead of teaching a child to speak?"

"Hey! I'm counseling you, that's what all psychologists do, right?" Neymar grabbed Batistuta's ankle to prevent him from spilling the remaining half cup of hangover tea on the sofa. "Okay, I won't do that, just skip this, and you continue - why on earth have you never won a single confrontation?"

Batty didn't say anything else, he just broke free from his grip, raised his right leg, and then turned his ankle.

"Because of this," he said.

"What?" Neymar gave him a puzzled look. "I thought your ankle problem hadn't recurred recently."

"It's not the ankle, it's the metatarsal." Batty raised his chin to indicate, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's not healed or anything, it's fully recovered, including my psychological problems, it's back to where it was before the injury."

"then you--"

"Yeah, because it was injured, it hesitated when I needed it to help me again." Batty bit the rim of the glass and said, "It refused to work for me again. When I needed its support in the confrontation, it sneered and said to me: Don't count on me, I won't do it, you little bitch, just lie on the ground and fall down."

Although the description was strange, Neymar almost understood what he meant.

Just like in many TV dramas, the protagonist accidentally kills a child by shooting under certain circumstances, and then becomes a coward in the subsequent stories, not daring to shoot again, for fear of making another mistake and hurting others.

Batty is now.

He subconsciously doesn't want his metatarsal to be injured again, so when he fights again, he will subconsciously choose something that will cause less damage to it, which naturally reduces the success rate of the fight.

To put it more simply, this behavior is like mental allergy, allergy to injury. The cause of it is most likely the World Cup. If there is no World Cup now, and the league is going on as planned, it is possible that his allergic reaction will not be so severe.

Seeing Neymar silent, Batistuta laughed at himself, then raised his head and blew the hair in front of his forehead: "Now you know how I feel, it's terrible, there is no way to stop it, maybe I-"

"There is a way." Neymar suddenly interrupted Batistuta.

"what?"

"I said there is a way." Neymar jumped up from the sofa, stretched his shoulders and waved to Batistuta, "Come on, I will help you desensitize."

Yes, this is not a job that requires much technical skills.

To treat mental allergies, you only need to repeat the things that cause allergies many times in the short/long term, be patient, and eventually the allergic reaction will disappear without a trace.

For Barty, desensitization therapy refers to simulated confrontation training, and not the entire confrontation, but only the moment when the opponent exerts force and Barty needs to cooperate with the supporting leg.

He dribbled, he intercepted, and then repeated the process. Neymar thought his plan was perfect.

"Uh, desensitization?" Batty blinked. Obviously he was going to misunderstand.

In his impression, this method is used to treat animals that have just been rescued and are still hostile and fearful of humans. This is the case in most dog and cat training videos.

"Do you want to rub my head with a brush?" Batty asked a little foolishly.

brush?

A bunch of question marks popped up in Neymar's mind, "What is that?"

"I saw them use a brush to deal with panting cats and biting dogs, like this—" Batty explained with gestures, "Using a brush instead of human hands to get them used to it, it's very easy to use and very fast, it's a desensitization treatment, that's what those people call it."

Neymar: …

"No, Batistuta, we don't have to do that - haha!" He tried again and again to hold back his laughter. When he looked up and saw Batistuta raising his innocent face full of blankness, Neymar still couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Ahem, you're right, that's also a form of desensitization treatment." Neymar cleared his throat and said, "We can add that step. Do you want me to rub your head with a brush?"

"--perhaps?"

"Then let's fight first, and when it's over I'll find a massage comb or something to rub you, okay." Neymar waved at him again, "Come on, let's go to the hall, don't be stressed, this is not a special training, just treat it as us playing on the beach."

Batty hesitated, then nodded in agreement. …

They continued this desensitization treatment for 1 month, and the effect was very good. Batty's confrontation success rate almost returned to the previous data.

As the World Cup draws closer, countries have announced the names of their players heading to Qatar in early November. On November 11, it was Brazil's turn.

Batistuta went to Neymar's house and sat on the sofa with him waiting for the live broadcast to begin. There was still a quarter of an hour before the press conference, and they talked about the grouping this time.

Brazil was drawn into Group G.

Fate is a magical thing. Since 2014, they have been grouped with Switzerland and Senegal in the World Cup group stage for three consecutive times.

"I suspect this is an inside story." Batty sneered at the group table on the screen. "How can three teams be grouped together in a row? It's almost a tradition."

The grouping for this World Cup was decided in April this year, but it was a difficult period for Manchester City and Batistuta was still injured, so they didn't discuss it much.

"At least we are not in the group of death," Neymar joked. "Look at Group E, Germany, Spain, Japan, Costa Rica, anyone could qualify."

"Yeah, I still hope Germany can qualify." Barty raised his lip. "If they can show the strength they showed in 2014, I'm sure we'll meet in... uh, the semi-finals?"

"No, they are in Group E. We can't meet them in the semi-finals." Neymar squeezed Batistuta next to him with his knee. "If they are the top of the group, we will meet them in the quarter-finals. If they are the second in the group, we can only meet in the final."

Batistuta drew on his phone for a long time before he was sure that Neymar was right. He blew his lips and glanced at him: "How did you calculate so quickly?"

"I was born with a good brain." Neymar said proudly, looking up.

"Come on!" Batty rolled his eyes at him. "Everyone knows you're a little idiot. Tell me the truth. Did you secretly calculate your opponent under the quilt yesterday?"

Neymar pushed him playfully and said, "I don't need to calculate, there are tables on the Internet." Then he took out his mobile phone and gestured to Batistuta. It turned out that he had been hiding his mobile phone under his legs and looking at it secretly.

Barty pinched his nose. "Cheating."

"At least I have figured out all the possibilities." Neymar let Batistuta pinch his nose. "There is one more thing, Batistuta, you know, we may meet Argentina in the semi-finals this year."

"Really?" Batty screamed and sat up, "Do we really have a chance to get revenge?! You didn't lie to me?"

"Of course, why would I lie to you about this?" Neymar pulled up a picture on his phone. "If they can qualify as the top team and we can also qualify, and if we beat our opponents in the 1/8 and 1/4 rounds, we will meet in the semi-finals in the upper half."

"That's wonderful!" Batistuta held Neymar's face and gave him a big kiss. "They took the America's Cup, it doesn't matter, we will step on them and take the World Cup!!"

The live broadcast has started.

Zidane, wearing a suit, slowly walked to the center of the screen and sat down, then announced the 26-man roster for this World Cup in not very authentic Portuguese.

"...Alisson, Liverpool, Ederson, Manchester City." He started with the goalkeeper, then moved on to the defenders and midfielders.

Fernandinho was unfortunately not selected this time, but Renan Lodi and Mario Bekalos, who performed well in the America's Cup, were both selected.

Soon Zidane talked about the forward.

"... □□Eric Jesus, Real Madrid, Jesus, Arsenal, Neymar, Manchester City, Rafinha, Barcelona, ​​Richarlison, Tottenham, Martinelli, Arsenal, Rodrigo, Real Madrid, Batistuta, Manchester City."

After announcing the full 26-man squad, Brazil's head coach told the world who he would be the captain of the team.

Zidane: "Bati is an excellent player. He has been the captain of Manchester City for three seasons and has done a very good job. During the America's Cup last year, we both impressed each other, so I give the captain's armband to Batistuta this time. I believe he can do it. Thank you."

"Congratulations, captain." Neymar winked at Batistuta and then pretended to extend his hand.

Batty shook hands with him in a very reserved tone.

"Thank you," said the Brazilian captain. "I hope we can do better in this World Cup than last time."

Neymar noticed that he didn't state their ultimate goal directly. Why? Was it because he was worried about being criticized? Or was it because they were too motivated last time but lost to France in the final inexplicably, so they didn't dare to be too explicit this time?

No, that's not right.

Is the unconfident and unassuming Batty still the Batty he knows?
So Neymar reached out and gave his captain a strong hug, then held his waist, led him to turn over and straddle himself, and finally, Neymar held Batistuta's face and looked up at him.

This time it was his turn to tell him.

“We must be six-star Brazil this year.”

(End of this chapter)