[Football] Bad Boy Batty

On the evening of December 12th, local time in Qatar, the semi-final match between Brazil and Argentina in this World Cup was grandly staged at the familiar Lusail Stadium.

Perhaps even God is watching this game closely, as today's temperature reached an astonishing 34 degrees Celsius, far above the average. As night falls, the temperature drops, but the stadium is a semi-enclosed space, and air conditioning is needed to make the audience more comfortable.

However, for the players, the air conditioning inside was a bit too strong.

Batistuta got everything ready and came to the player tunnel. The cold wind blowing directly and the warm air outside the door formed convection and hit him, and Batistuta couldn't help but shiver.

"You can ask them to adjust the air conditioning direction." The referee on duty told him. The referee who will referee this game today is the famous referee from Serie A, Orsato.

"No need, just a few minutes." Batistuta smiled at him, crossed his arms and touched the captain's armband. Not far away, a figure wearing a blue and white jersey walked by, and Batistuta's eyes followed him for a few seconds.

He was shaking more from excitement than from the cold.

They are going to play Argentina!

The Argentina that had beaten them on their home turf and taken the trophy.

After that defeat, Batistuta promised everyone that they would not make the same mistake again. He said that the next time they met, they would not let the Argentines take away the victory that belonged to them.

And now, it's time to test.

How can it not make people excited, their blood boil, and their adrenaline soar!

Batty clenched his fist and felt his heartbeat.

The next second—

"Oh, isn't this our new Crow Mouth King?"

Batty: ...

It's really a classic.

The Brazilian captain rolled his eyes without disguising himself, then crossed his arms and turned around to complain: "You just ruined my excitement, Leo. If anyone tells me you're a nice guy again, I'll beat him up."

The person who came was none other than Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina next door.

"You know I'm not that good," Messi responded with a smile. "I'll tackle you if necessary, and Ney, be careful."

Don't be merciful to your enemy, even if he is your best friend.

Of course, for the sake of national interests, if necessary, Batistuta will ruthlessly knock down Messi and all the Argentine players around him.

The two captains smiled at each other and then exchanged a hug.

"See you on the field."

……

With a few minutes left before the game started, both teams followed the referee into the stadium, followed by handshakes, the playing of the national anthem, and a coin toss.

While Batistuta was shaking hands with Messi, Neymar gathered all the starting players and formed a circle on the sidelines. This was an agreement between him and Batistuta that in addition to the speech in the locker room, they would have another spiritual baptism before the official start of the game.

"Everyone knows what the match between Brazil and Argentina means. I don't want to say too much. Batistuta has already made it very clear in the locker room just now!" Neymar clenched his fists and spoke quickly.

He raised his voice and continued.

"I want to say to you guys, we have the same goal, we have worked so hard for this, all the training, and here in Qatar, we are away from our families, for what?"

"——For the final victory!"

"And to achieve the final victory we must get the key to that game! We must cross Argentina!"

After a pause, Neymar bent down and took out a star from his socks.

"Remember this?" he asked.

It was a yellow five-pointed star made of paper with a corner missing. It was the one Batistuta gave to everyone after losing the Copa America final.

"He said the choice is ours, when we are ready to face Argentina again -" Neymar folded in his last corner.

He held up the star to show everyone, then pressed it against his chest, pressed it hard a few times, and finally the star returned to his sock.

"I'm ready," Neymar said. "Are you guys ready?"

At that moment, flames burned in everyone's eyes.

Have fun when it's time to play, and take it seriously when it's time to be serious. This is the current Brazilian team.

"We are ready!!"

……

Neymar dismissed the team and the players ran back to their respective positions. At this time, Batistuta came back with the first selected position and the right to kick off.

"The speech is over?" he asked. "How do you feel?"

"Very good." Neymar hooked his arm around Batistuta's neck and kissed his forehead. "God bless, we will have no regrets this time."

"Well, I believe it." This time Batty's prayer was different, "God helps those who help themselves."

He gave Neymar a reassuring smile, kissed the vitória (victory) tattoo on the side of his right index finger, walked to the center circle, put the ball down, and then stepped on it.

"bring it on!"

[Ladies and gentlemen! Let's do it together! Get ready! 4, 3, 2——]

[beep——]
【start! 】

……

As old rivals in important competitions, needless to say, after the opening, the two teams skipped the stage of testing each other and immediately set the tempo.

However, compared to Brazil, Argentina was a little embarrassed. Zidane's deployment caught them off guard.

"Damn it! Should I pull out to defend him, or wait for him to lead? That's not Neymar!" After two useless defenses, right-back Molina shook his hands and complained.

"It's the same whether it's Batistuta or Neymar!" Otamendi pushed Molina while running, "Shut up, do your job, just as agreed."

In fact, Otamendi didn't know what to do, but experience told him that he had to stay calm at this time. If they got in chaos, Brazil's goal would be achieved.

For tactical considerations, Argentina head coach Scaloni deployed a 442 borderless formation.

In the defense, Tagliafico and Molina played as left and right wingbacks, Otamendi and Romero partnered as central defenders; in the forward line, Messi was on the right, partnering with Alvarez; in the midfield, in addition to the regular McAllister, Enzo, and De Paul, Paredes was sent to increase the number of people and limit Batistuta and Neymar's retreat to provide support.

In this lineup, no matter whether Batistuta appears in the midfield at the beginning or withdraws to the midfield from the right, as long as they lock Casemiro and interrupt Neymar's rhythm with confrontation, Batistuta can do nothing without the ball.

But who knew that Zidane did not play according to the routine. He abandoned the 4231 that has been used since the beginning of this World Cup and the 4141 that briefly appeared in the last game, and directly used a 433, and put Batistuta on the left.

Compared with the regular lineup, Brazil's 433 this time has three personnel changes. Alisson, who has better goal-line reaction and one-on-one saves, was sent as the goalkeeper. Marquinhos was replaced by Militao on the back line. Guimaraes continued to start in the midfield and partnered with Casemiro and Neymar. Jesus replaced Richarlison on the front line, and Rafinha was still on the right.

And most importantly, Brazil captain, Batistuta, has come to Neymar's original position.

Although he is able to play on both sides with both feet, he has rarely appeared on the left and achieved good results, whether in his experience with Manchester City or the national team.

This caused the Argentine defensive players on the opposing team to be somewhat confused and not know how to respond.

In the 11th minute, Argentina kicked the ball out of the goal. Casemiro intercepted the ball and Danilo controlled the rhythm, breaking up Argentina's formation and passing the ball to Militao. The Real Madrid central defender pressed the ball to the arc of the center circle and then made a long pass to Batistuta on the left. Batistuta said that there were better options for this ball.

Paredes had already spotted him, waiting for them to kick the ball over, which forced Batistuta to retreat deeper to ensure that he would not be intercepted. If he passed the ball back to Guimaraes in the middle, and Neymar moved to the right to attract Paredes' attention, he would be able to get through the Argentine midfield defense better.

But that’s okay too.

Batistuta stopped the ball with the inside of his right foot, then turned around and got rid of Paredes' pull and passed through the outside line.

He estimated that this guy must have imagined that his opponent in the defensive exercises in the past few days must be Neymar, and Neymar was used to going inside, so he didn't get any advantage in these interceptions with Batistuta.

Neymar passed.

"Position! Pay attention to your position!" Otamendi quickly observed the opponent's position, and then reminded De Paul not to forget Neymar because of Batistuta, "Behind you, watch out!"

If these two people are allowed to connect online, they will be in danger.

De Paul immediately turned around and paid attention to Neymar's movements.

Paredes was still competing with Batistuta on the wing. After failing to stop the opponent from receiving the ball and turning around, he accelerated to catch up, and while blocking the position, he tried to make some small interference movements to make up for his mistake.

"Go away! Don't touch me!" Batistuta was a little angry after being squeezed, "This is what you Argentines do, right?"

"So what are you going to do?" Paredes shot back. "Use diving and diving, which are familiar to Brazilians, to win sympathy?"

Batty snorted.

Fake fall?

No, no, no, he will fall down. As long as you dare to make a move, even if it is a very small push, he will fall down to the ground with real emotion.

Batistuta stopped the ball on the sideline not far from the penalty area line and thought quickly about what to do next.

Paredes and Argentina's secondary defense was very effective, blocking his possibility of passing the ball or cutting inside. He could only stop and wait for the defender to assist, which invisibly slowed down their counterattack speed.

"Renan! Come up!"

Batistuta passed the ball back to Renan Lodi, then pretended to sprint to attract Paredes' attention, and Renan rushed forward with the ball at high speed.

"Take the initiative to tackle! Don't be afraid! Get out!" Otamendi shouted from his position in front of the goal, while paying attention to the movements of Batistuta and Neymar in front of him, "Don't let them start!"

[Brazil's attack! Coming from the wing! Romero attacks and tackles——]

Renan Lodi and Romero met each other's feet, and both rolled on the ground for several rounds before standing up. The ball deviated from its original position and flew to the back post. Rafinha tried to kick the ball without stopping in the chaos, but the ball deviated from the goal frame.

The referee blows the whistle.

Even if the ball had gone in, it would have counted. He first called a foul on the attacking team. Renan's foot first hit Romero's supporting leg, and then he kicked the ball to the back point.

The ball is given to Argentina.

"Well done, guys!" Batty ran back and gave a thumbs up to all his teammates who had just participated in the attack. "Pass it, pass the ball! Keep going!"

This wave of attack is over.

There was a threat to Argentina's goal but it was not great.

[It seems that both Argentina and Brazil have put a lot of effort into this game. The intensity of the fight just now was even greater than that in last year's Copa America. However, it can also be seen from this time that Argentina was indeed not prepared enough for Batistuta's sudden change of sides. The heavily deployed midfield allowed him to pass easily. Well, be careful. ]

However, just when the commentator had just finished analyzing the right-side defense that Argentina needed to focus on, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

With the help of a set piece in which the attacking team had just committed a foul, Argentina moved to the midfield to launch an attack. Messi retreated, attracting the attention of Guimarães. Enzo took the ball to the left and cooperated with McAllister, then saw an open space and passed the ball directly into the penalty area.

The Brazilian back line was not prepared. If Alvarez received the ball and turned around, there would be nothing but air in front of him except the goalkeeper.

"God!"

Batistuta quickly rushed to his own half, but just as he crossed the center line and had not reached the front court, the referee blew the timeout whistle.

Then several nearby Argentine players immediately surrounded them.

what happened?

Batistuta accelerated towards the scene and saw two people sitting on the ground at the penalty area line, one in yellow and the other in blue and white.

The one in yellow is Militao. He quickly patted his butt and stood up to join the arguing around the referee. The one in blue and white is Alvarez, who was still checking his socks on the ground, as if he had been tackled.

And this position happens to be the penalty area line.

hiss--

This is not good.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone, step back!" Batistuta went over and stood between the players of both teams, and together with Casemiro, he tried to cool down the situation. "Calm down! Calm down!"

"We don't want to fight, we just want fairness." Messi also stood up, "It was a foul, we saw it clearly, and it was in the penalty area."

The latter sentence was obviously addressed to the referee.

"I believe that's not true!" Batty also quickly emphasized to the referee, "It's still far from the penalty area line. It's a tactical foul at most!"

Neymar also rushed over, but he didn't say anything, just stood beside Batistuta, as if to support him. Just now, Neymar clearly saw the whole process of the incident.

"Everyone, step back!" The referee waved everyone away and pressed the microphone, "I need to confirm!"

After saying that, he made the VAR gesture and ran to the sidelines to watch the video replay himself.

Batistuta quickly exchanged glances with Neymar.

"Did you see it?" Batty asked quickly, covering his mouth. "Did you see that tackle clearly?"

"Almost." Neymar said as he lowered his head and stepped on the grass twice.

Batty frowned at him.

"Ney you mean-"

"It's not good, Batistuta." Neymar pinched his nose while covering his mouth. "I don't think it's good. They are almost on the line."

Well, prepare for the worst.

"Got it." Batistuta bit the inside of his mouth hard, and then made a quick decision, "Go find Alisson, you know Leo's penalty kicks, tell him where to dive."

Neymar responded and turned around to remind Alisson subtly.

Less than 20 seconds after he turned around, the referee on the sidelines announced the result. He blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot while running back to the field.

**da puta!

Batty cursed inwardly.

Although he had anticipated this result, he still felt like his heart was hit hard when the referee made the ruling.

【Oh oh oh! Brazil is sentenced to death! Militao knocks down Alvarez and confirms that he is in the penalty area. The game is in the 18th minute! Argentina gets a penalty! 】

(End of this chapter)