[Football] Bad Boy Batty

5月11日, 就在曼城6-0大胜水晶宫的5天后，他们迎来了和摩纳哥次回合的半决赛。乘坐伊蒂哈德航空提供的专机，球员们做客来到摩纳哥的路易斯二世球场。

This place is not as grand as their Etihad Stadium. It can only accommodate 1.5 spectators and is not a standard football field. There is a running track outside the venue for runners.

But the relatively simple stadium and facilities did not affect the enthusiasm of the fans. Before the game started, the venue and the outside were already crowded.

Two hours in advance, Manchester City's bus left the hotel. The atmosphere in the car was very relaxed, with many players gathered together to chat. There were also players like Sane who did not sleep at night and did not wake up during the day, using all their time to catch up on sleep.

Batty and his friends gathered together to play the board game Avalon, a card game similar to Werewolf. The rules were very simple. The two camps, good guys and bad guys, were determined by drawing cards. The good guys protected Merlin while the bad guys assassinated Merlin.

Since the game did not require players to engage in violent acts, Guardiola did not intervene to stop them, until Batistuta drew the Morgana card from the bad guy camp, and things started to get interesting.

Morgana is the twin character that corresponds to the Merlin card, the villain.

If the player who draws her is very good at sweet talk and is familiar with the play, he can easily pretend to be Merlin to confuse the good side, or deceive both sides, causing them to fight each other and finally win the victory.

Batty is such a high-end player.

After one round, he had completely figured out everyone's background, so he kept hinting at De Bruyne who got the prophet card, and used counter-routines to confuse Aguero who got the Merlin card, and used a few words to stir up mutual suspicion between the two civilians, Sterling and Silva.

In the end, the good guys fought among themselves and Merlin was assassinated.

Batistuta single-handedly led his accomplice Jesus, who had not yet figured out the situation, to victory. Looking at the stunned people, he and Jesus high-fived.

“Long live Brazil!”

Sterling threw the cards in his hand on the table. "I don't trust you anymore, Batty. You fooled all of us and made us follow your fingers like puppets!"

"Well, I can only say that you are too bad." Batty leaned back in his chair and used his fingers to turn the cards in fancy ways, just like a gambler who was winning money in Las Vegas. "It's not a good thing to trust others too easily. If you can't tell whether I am lying, how can you tell which direction the opponent on the court will pass the ball?"

"Don't quibble! I'm a striker just like you!"

"That makes it even more necessary, isn't it?" Batty winked at him, then kissed the cards in his hand and threw them in front of Sterling. "So this is why you always fail to pass the ball, because you can't lie?"

Sterling, who was dropped from the starting lineup due to his recent poor performance in the league, felt like he was shot in the knee.

So taking advantage of a red light, the happy boy jumped over the table and pounced on Batty.

"Little bastard! Let Brother Rahim teach you how to speak!"

Batty was not afraid of him. He blocked Sterling's claws and pressed him down on the seat with his backhand. The two of them started to quarrel without paying any attention to the occasion.

Aguero, who was originally sitting next to Batistuta, very consciously walked to the opposite side. He grabbed a handful of dried vegetable snacks and squeezed together with De Bruyne and others to watch the show.

"Who do you think will win?" he asked.

"It must be Batistuta." Jesus took a piece of cucumber from him.

"Maybe Raheem," Silva replied.

"Press for Batistuta." Fernandinho came over at some point.

"Who remembers that we are here to play - I think it's Batistuta too." De Bruyne, who was serious for half a second.

While everyone was watching the show, the fight between Batistuta and Sterling reached a climax. Batistuta then kicked away a phone that was playing music with earphones connected to it. His newly released song "I Feel It Coming" echoed throughout the car, pushing the situation to a climax.

Seeing that the carriage was about to turn into a WWE (free fighting) scene, Arteta tugged at Guardiola's sleeve again and said, "Pep, are you still not going to control them?"

Guardiola looked up at the car through the rearview mirror and made a nasal sound.

“Wait until the song is over,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll be able to Feel It Coming on the field later.”

……

The cheerful and relaxed atmosphere failed to maintain on the field. Monaco's quick attack threw Manchester City's defense into disarray. Mbappe got the ball in front of the goal and shot it hard, hitting the post, causing Caballero's heart rate to soar. Three minutes later, Stones almost scored an own goal when he headed the ball away.

Fortunately, Manchester City retreated across the board and resisted Monaco's crazy attack. The Italian-style slow-paced defense naturally restrained this "crazy running flow". Guardiola looked at the situation on the field and was extremely glad that he did not stubbornly choose to attack the opponent.

It’s not a big problem. As long as they maintain this score, they will enter the finals.

Of course, Monaco won't let them get their wish easily.

Before the second round of the game, they obviously made special tactical deployments, still using the two-sided tactics, but avoiding Manchester City's strong side, the right side where Batistuta was, and instead focusing on the left side.

This led to more restrictions on Manchester City's left side Sane. In the 38th minute, he was intercepted by the opponent's midfielder Bernardo Silva (hereinafter referred to as B Silva) for the fifth time.

"Roy, what's wrong with you? You can sleep in the car, but now we are on the pitch, wake up!" Batistuta, who saw the whole process, waved at him and complained, "You can't expect Fernandinho to be both a full-back and a winger. It's already difficult for him to just fill in for Stones!"

Stones: “Hey!”

Batty glared back.

“Shut up, you who almost scored an own goal have no right to speak.” He bared his canine teeth at his own center back, “If something like that happens again, you better clear the ball normally! If you aim for our goal again, I’ll beat you up during halftime!”

After a season of getting along, Stones had a general understanding of Batistuta's character. He smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

"Not next time."

Batty was quite satisfied with his answer.

But Sane, the one who was just criticized, was not in a good situation. The German boy did not say anything in rebuttal, but he was not the kind of player who would hold his breath to prove himself after being accused. Batistuta's words made him upset, and his steps became even more messy.

So in the 43rd minute, Monaco successfully intercepted the ball again, and the initiator was still B Silva.

This directly led to Monaco scoring a goal.

Falcao's shot was blocked by Caballero, and Mbappe shook off Clichy who was coming to make up for the position and followed up with a shot into the net. Even if Caballero was fast, he didn't have time to get up and dive to the other side of the goal.

At the end of the first half, Monaco led 1-0 at home and the total score became 3-1.

Manchester City still has two goals in hand.

"Goal difference? I don't care about goal difference. I hope we can beat them both in two legs and advance to the final. 0-1 is unacceptable." Batty said as he crushed an empty plastic bottle under his feet. "In the first leg, we restricted our opponents very well. Let's find the feeling. I don't want to see any more mistakes."

When Sane heard the word "mistake", he obviously froze.

Captain Kompany quickly realized what was going on. He found Sane himself, then signaled Aguero with his eyes to take Batistuta aside.

“What are you doing? What are you doing? I haven’t tied my shin guards yet.” Batistuta was half-pushed and half-dragged to the other side of the locker room. He folded his hands and looked at Aguero in condemnation, then glanced at where they had just sat. “Why, isn’t what I said the truth? His mistakes in the first half are enough to make a highlight reel.”

"Yes, you are right, Sane made a lot of mistakes." Aguero hugged Batistuta's shoulders and comforted him, "But not everyone can withstand the pressure, don't provoke him."

Batty opened his eyes wide and said, "If he can't stand it, then let Rahim go. Although he makes a lot of mistakes, he can still stand a few words from me."

If things continued like this, there would be no way to end it. Aguero had to ask Niu for help, and the two of them worked together to stop Batistuta's complaints. Guardiola did not change the tactics, he simply emphasized a few words and then began to encourage the players.

The second half started quickly, and Batistuta was still dissatisfied with Sane's frequent mistakes.

But no matter how dissatisfied he was, when Sane was knocked to the ground and an argument broke out between the two sides, Batistuta was the first to rush forward to protect him.

"Stay away from him!" Batistuta used his shoulder to push away the aggressive Fabinho next to Sane. "I didn't bother with you about you kicking my ankle in the last game. What's the matter? Do you think we are easy to bully?"

"I didn't touch him, he fell down by himself!" Fabinho shouted at Batistuta in Portuguese. "I didn't do anything, the referee was watching."

Sane doesn't understand Portuguese, but he can often tell by his actions and tone. He grabbed Batistuta's hand and stood up, "You pushed me, that's a foul!"

Seat B, who was not far away, rushed over and stood in the middle to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"Don't make a scene, friends. It's no good," he said. "The referee is the one in charge."

To Batistuta, these words sounded like: We did commit a foul, but the referee didn't see it and isn't going to give us a card, so why are you still making a fuss?

So the target of his anger shifted to Seat B.

"Don't defend your teammates," Batty glared at him and said loudly, "You were right next to him just now, there's no way you didn't see him push someone."

B席 never thought that he, who was trying to stop the fight, would be dragged into the incident, but after being stunned for two seconds, he faced Batistuta and started arguing with him.

"No one broke the rules at all!"

"So he was knocked out by your telekinesis?"

"He's trying to cheat for a yellow card!"

"That's a yellow card move!"

You can lose anything on the court, but you cannot lose momentum.

Seeing that the tension in the midfield was growing, more players gathered over to separate a few people. Sane and Fabinho were already fine, but Batistuta and B Silva, who were protecting their teammates, started speaking Portuguese to each other at a very fast speed.

The referee arrived soon and stopped the small-scale conflict in time.

Batistuta said a few perfunctory words to the referee and ran back to his seat. Before leaving, he did not forget to give B Silva a fierce look and a gesture of "I'm watching you, don't play tricks".

Seat B naturally glared back not to be outdone.

A conflict of this scale on the football field can only be regarded as a minor episode, but who could have thought that when the two became teammates and then friends the next season, this quarrel between them on the field would become a fun experience widely spread among fans.

……

Monaco's threat did not last long. After 50 minutes, Manchester City gradually regained the rhythm and the combination of the flanks and the middle caught Monaco off guard.

Seeing that Aguero was about to take the ball and go straight to the ribs, Batistuta had already surrounded him on the wing, and Silva and even Fernandinho came up at the back. The Monaco defenders could only choose to commit a tactical foul.

The referee showed him a yellow card and then awarded Manchester City a free kick that was not too close to the goal but in a good position.

De Bruyne and Silva came to the penalty spot, but just when they were about to call Batistuta to discuss the matter, they found that Batistuta waved his hand to indicate that he was not in good shape, and then joined the team rushing for the penalty in front of the goal.

"Bati will be out of form?" Silva asked quietly, covering his mouth, "Does he have other intentions?"

De Bruyne looked at his position. "He wants us to go deep," he said.

Batistuta took the front position in a very high-profile manner and got entangled with his Brazilian fellow Fernandinho, which resulted in no one guarding Stones at the back. Silva looked up and saw the missed gap.

"Are you going to do it or am I going to do it?" he asked.

"Make a curve, a little higher, can you do it?"

"Row."

"Okay, then you come."

After the discussion, the two prepared in front of the penalty spot. De Bruyne made a feint, and David Silva took a run-up and kicked the ball, with a beautiful arc. Batistuta drew the attention of at least three defensive players, and when Monaco realized that there was no one guarding the back point, it was too late.

Stones leapt high and headed the ball.

【It's a goal! Stones! He made up for his mistake and headed the ball into the goal of Monaco. In the 56th minute, Manchester City equalized the score, and now the total score is 4-1. 】

Stones was extremely excited after scoring the goal. He almost scored an own goal in the first half, but now he finally got proud of himself. What's more, this was his first goal in the Champions League this season.

"Hey! Batistuta! See, I did it!" Stones ran to the few Manchester City fans and celebrated wildly, then he turned around and opened his hands to Batistuta who had confronted him in the first half, "I didn't score an own goal and I equalized the score. Now you have no reason to beat me!"

Batty rushed over and climbed the tree, then rolled his eyes at him slightly.

"When did I say I was going to beat you up? You must have heard me wrong." He kissed Stones on the forehead and raised his right hand high. "Come on! A draw won't do! We have to - step into the final with our heads held high!"

……

At the end of the game, thanks to Batistuta's last-minute shot, Manchester City finally reversed the score to 2-1 and won the ticket to the Champions League final with a total score of 5-1 in two rounds.

This is a historic moment!

After the Champions League was reformed, Manchester City reached the semi-finals three times, but never made it to the final.

Manchester City fans watching in front of the TV went crazy. They rushed out of their homes to celebrate with each other, and then turned the whole of Manchester into a sea of ​​blue.

The noisy neighbor finally became the one that could no longer be ignored.

The social media was all dominated by blue that day.

#shoutoutwhatcolouristheskyinmanchester? ! !
#Manchester's sky is blue!
……

The next day, the result of the next game came out. Juventus, who had not conceded a goal in the knockout stage, lost 1-2 to Real Madrid. Ronaldo brought his total number of goals to 10, no more, no less, just one more than Batistuta.

"Don't worry, I will continue to score goals. I want both the Champions League trophy and the Golden Boot." Batistuta said lazily while leaning against the window on the bus, "But before the Champions League final, we still have a trophy to win."

Yes, Batty was talking about the Premier League championship trophy.

In the minds of some fans, winning the Premier League title is more important than winning the Champions League. Now they are 4 points higher than the second-placed Chelsea and have won the Premier League title one round in advance, but there is another big thing, that is their record of 1+ goals in the Brazilian Rose season.

Now Batistuta has 29 goals, and Manchester City's opponent in the last round is Watford, a team hovering on the edge of the relegation zone. If nothing unexpected happens, they will definitely see Batistuta break the record.

In fact, there were really no accidents.

Manchester City swept their opponents 7-0 at home.

In the first half, from the 25th minute to the 33rd minute, three goals were scored in the eight minutes, and they all came from one person. The Watford coach on the sidelines was stunned and couldn't believe his eyes.

The Manchester City team had just entered the final and was in a good mood. They were feeding the ball to Batistuta like crazy for the sake of his season record, and Batistuta accepted all of them without hesitation.

In the end, Batistuta scored 4 goals, Aguero scored 2 goals, and Silva scored 1 goal.

Sky Sports commented on Manchester City's behavior that day:

Inhumane.

In his first season in the Premier League, Batista won the Premier League Golden Boot with 28 goals in 33 games, breaking the curse that Premier League strikers could not score more than 30 goals in recent years, and also broke the record of the youngest player to score 30+ goals.

However, although they won the championship, there was still a game waiting for them, so the championship celebration was postponed to the day after the Champions League final. Maybe they could celebrate two games at once.

At the same time, La Liga also came to an end. Real Madrid won the championship with 93 points, and Barcelona ranked second with 90 points. At the end of May, they defeated Alaves 5-3 to win the King's Cup, which was a little consolation for this terrible season.

……

"Is your side over now?" Batty asked while lying on the bed and brushing his hair, "When will we have the holiday?"

"It's all over," Neymar replied. "Tomorrow we will officially start the summer break."

Batistuta sat up and placed his cell phone on the bedside table, then took out some essential oil from the drawer to protect his slightly soft hair. He tilted his head and looked at the screen, where Neymar's face looked a little haggard.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. "You just won the King's Cup. Aren't you happy?"

Neymar pursed his lips. "Of course I'm happy to win the King's Cup," he said, "but we lost to Real Madrid in the league, and now the Champions League - I clearly told you to see you in the final."

He was angry with himself, and Batty saw that.

But Batty will not and does not intend to comfort the other party. After a season, his comforting skills have not improved at all.

"It's all in the past, don't think about it." He changed the subject, "You might as well think about how to come and watch the game instead of wasting time."

"Ok?"

"I'm talking about the Champions League final." Batty shook his head left and right to feel his fluffy hair. "This year's final will be in Wales. I can give you family tickets. How about it? Will you come?"

This was something Neymar didn't expect.

He was not referring to watching the Champions League final. Players from eliminated teams were also allowed to enter the stadium to watch the game. Last season, when Real Madrid played the final, Ramos gave Pique a ticket to watch the game in person (mostly for sarcastic reasons), and Pique actually went.

Unexpectedly, Batty said he would give him family tickets.

"I don't know if it's possible." He hesitated and said, "My father has arranged a lot of advertising endorsements for me, and there are many American TV programs. I have to..."

"You're such a good kid, Ney." Barty rolled his eyes at him. "Do you have to listen to everything your dad says? What if your dad doesn't like the person you're dating, won't you rush over and break up with him/her right away?"

Uh.

Neymar's eyes looked a little vague.

Who knows why Batty gave such an example? He secretly glanced at the screen. In fact, not everything has to be arranged by his father, especially in terms of feelings. His father may not be able to accept this.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Batistuta poked the screen. "I'm telling you about the Champions League, the final, my first time, do you want to come?"

Neymar, who had just come to his senses, blurted out: "Yes."

Only after he finished speaking did he realize what he had just agreed to. He bit the tip of his tongue and tried to make amends.

"I'll go, but family tickets—"

"What's wrong with the family tickets?" Batty gave him a strange look, and then he paused as if he suddenly realized something. "Are you afraid of my godfather? I gave him a ticket too, so he will definitely go."

Is there any other reason besides this, Batistuta thought. The last time he went to Barcelona, ​​he almost made it clear to the other party, but even with the person sitting on him, he didn't react at all.

What does that mean?
That means Neymar doesn't actually have that kind of thought about himself, and the previous few times were just physiological reactions caused by being suddenly aroused.

So it could only be this——

Neymar is afraid of meeting his godfather, the legendary director.

"Why worry? My godfather is a very good person." He reached out and poked Neymar's nose again. "Although he may dislike you, he is just a little bit harsh in his words."

Sounds exactly like you, Neymar thought.

"This has nothing to do with your godfather, Barty," he said. "I just—"

"Just what?"

Yeah, just what?
Neymar couldn't explain why he was unwilling to accept the other party's family ticket.

He wanted to get closer to him, closer, but——

He didn't know what was bothering him. After thinking it over, he could only attribute it to the fact that family tickets were not the only one.

Neymar doesn't want to share with others, he wants the other party's highlight moments to belong to him alone.

That sounds ridiculous.

In fact, it’s ridiculous.

But that's what his brain told him.

"Why are you distracted again?" Batty frowned and held the phone in front of him. "Did I force you to go? If you don't want to go, I can give the ticket to Ederson. It just so happens that he has a few friends who also want to go."

Edson?
Neymar's heart was filled with alarm.

"No, no, I will go to your game. Don't give the ticket to anyone else," he said. "I was just thinking about when to go there. I have to stagger the advertising time. And the hotel. Wales is not big. It will definitely be crowded with fans who want to watch the Champions League. I have to book it in advance, right?"

Batti on the screen blinked, said "Oh", his frown relaxed, and his anger just now disappeared. He accepted this explanation.

Neymar breathed a sigh of relief.

But then he heard—

“You can come to Manchester first.”

Then he saw Batty on the screen with a smile in his eyes and patted the seat beside him.

"Besides, my bed is big enough for both of us."

At this moment, Neymar knew that he had to go on this trip.

(End of this chapter)