[Football] Bad Boy Batty

"Unfortunately, our injury list has increased again. Stones has injured a muscle. I think he will need 4-6 weeks to recover. Fortunately, we won the first 4 games in the Champions League and have already entered the knockout stage. We also have a 12-point lead in the league. The only problem is that we have more games to play. Not every player can be like Batistuta. I don't know how he can run around on the field after playing all the games for the national team. He refused to tell me his secret. There is no doubt that he is a little bastard, but we still love him."

——From Guardiola’s interview.

Soon England entered full winter, the temperature dropped to zero degrees, and the players on the training ground also changed into thicker equipment.

As a cold-fearing alien from South America, Batty wrapped himself up like a dumpling and put on the thermal pants sent to him by Qiao Lin. As a result, he was ridiculed by local players led by Kyle Walker, who jokingly called those thermal pants "socks".

"Baby Barty is wearing black stockings again today!"

"Heyyyyy!"

"Oh! Where are your short skirt and high heels?"

Batty was too cold to do anything: ...

Just wait for me.

……

In early December, in the last round of the Champions League group stage, Manchester City will travel to Ukraine to challenge Shakhtar Donetsk.

In order to give the players enough rest, Guardiola made a large number of rotations of the main players. Batistuta, Aguero, De Bruyne, David Silva and Kyle Walker all wore orange vests and waited on the bench. Compared with the last game, only Ederson, Danilo and Sane continued to start.

Phil Foden broke Batistuta's record of 'the youngest player starting in the Champions League for Manchester City' by two days. At the same time, Guardiola became the sixth head coach to coach more than 2 Champions League games.

"It's too cold here, -5°C, God, I can hardly feel my calves." Batistuta huddled in his down jacket, with the collar pulled up to his nose. He raised his arm slightly to touch De Bruyne beside him, "Kevin, go ask Mikel when we can go warm up?"

"It's just the beginning, the Champions League theme song hasn't even finished playing yet." De Bruyne pinched his brow helplessly, "You have to wait at least 15 minutes before warming up, you know."

"Can't I warm up on the sidelines the whole game? Who made that rule?" Batistuta muttered. Of course he knew when substitutes should warm up, but it was too cold now. He couldn't help but complain, "Pep better have a plan to replace me, otherwise--"

"You've played a lot of games, Batistuta," De Bruyne said as he helped him straighten his woolen hat and tightened his scarf. "We'll have more games after Christmas, so you can't tire yourself out."

"Really?" Batty raised his eyebrows at him, then deliberately reached out and touched his chest, "A few days ago you were so busy that I thought I had nipples, and then you almost gave me a calf cramp. How can you say this so naturally?"

De Bruyne paused, then gently kicked Batty's calf, 'We are still on the court, we can talk about this when we get back.'

His anger over the phone call lasted for half a month. Batistuta didn't know the reason and still thought that he was having a bad time in the national team, so he was particularly cooperative during the period of being tossed around. That made De Bruyne feel a little guilty, but only a little. Whenever he reviewed the recording file of that day, the guilt in his heart would disappear without a trace.

"Hmph, you're a hypocrite." Batty rolled his eyes at De Bruyne, then moved to the next room and deliberately stayed away from him. "You're banned, Kevin, until I allow you to speak."

Kyle Walker, who was sitting on his left, was flattered. This was the first time Batistuta leaned on him intimately, a position usually reserved for Aguero (or De Bruyne, Stones, Jesus, Sterling, or even Guardiola).

Ah, so he was behind so many people, Walker thought with emotion.

Seeing Walker in a trance, Batty waved his sleeves in front of his eyes: "Why are you stunned?"

"It's okay." Walker shook his head, "It's just a little unexpected."

Batty didn't understand what he meant. He narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down, then stood up and prepared to change seats. "Don't you want me to sit next to you? Fine, I'll go find Kun."

"Hey - come back!" Walker pulled him back to his seat before he could stand up completely. "Who would change seats at this time? The media will say that you and I are in conflict again."

Batty shrugged: "Just say it, it's the fact anyway."

"What's wrong with you, kid? You never tell the truth." Walker tilted his head and nudged Batty, then tugged at his thermal pants. "If you're really bored, teach me how to celebrate. Last time you said you would take me with you, but you turned around and forgot about it."

"Celebrate?" Batty stopped and looked over. "You mean the dance to 'Bum'? I won't use that anymore. There's a newer one to replace it."

Walker didn't care. "Then teach me something new." He said indifferently, "Anyway, my wish in this life is to celebrate the goal with the Brazilians before I die. You have to satisfy me."

Batty was amused by his desperate attitude and agreed with a smile.

"Okay, I'll satisfy you."

The boy fiddled with his down jacket pocket for a while, then threw a Bluetooth headset to Walker. "This year's hottest single, "Mi Gente", listen to it first," he said.

"Why did you bring headphones in?" Walker was shocked and quickly hid the headphones in his sleeves. After looking around to make sure that the broadcast camera didn't capture them, he squeezed Batistuta with his arm and said, "Put them away quickly. If Pep sees you, you'll have to wait to go to the reserve team!"

"What are you afraid of? I even brought my phone in here." Batty swung his sleeves impatiently. "Why are you so nosy? Do you want to learn my celebration moves?"

"Learn, but -" Walker hesitated, "Why don't you just stop listening and do it directly." "Where does the rhythm come from if you don't listen?"

"Of course I've heard of 'Mi Gente' because it's so popular." Walker patted Batty's thigh, "Come on, I remember the drum beat, if I don't start, I should warm up."

Batty frowned and looked at him for a few seconds, but finally agreed.

"Okay, then start from the climax of the music, like this, and move your shoulders first..."

……

Batistuta's celebration was not complicated. Just remember the sequence and practice it 5 or 6 times and you will be able to master it. Walker quickly followed his rhythm, but he could learn the movements but not the essence. Compared with Batistuta's casual and ostentatious style, Walker's posture was full of the roughness of the English, and no amount of correction could change it.

Just when the two were having fun on the bench, the situation on the field changed. In the 26th minute, Shakhtar Donetsk played smoothly in the frontcourt, and striker Bernard shot the ball into the dead corner of the net with a curved shot from 18 yards on the left side of the penalty area.

0-1, Manchester City fell behind away from home.

The broadcast camera turned to Manchester City players and the bench. Batistuta and Walker immediately stopped and sat quietly in their seats. They raised their hands to support their chins and looked at the field with frowns in unison, with a synchronization rate of 100%.

But after the camera moved away, they relaxed again. They were only one goal behind, which was not a big problem.

However, within a few minutes, Shakhtar Donetsk expanded the score. The defender successfully intercepted the ball and launched a long counterattack. Forward Ismaili, who successfully made an offside, had a one-on-one opportunity. Ederson made a mistake in his attack and Ismaili easily scored into the empty goal. The score was 2-0 and the Shakhtar fans were boiling.

"Tsk, 0-2 before halftime, are they crazy?" Batty finally remembered De Bruyne next to him, he leaned over to complain, "Can you imagine Kevin, how long has it been since we were 0-2 behind?"

"That's perfect," De Bruyne said dryly. "If they keep falling behind, Pep will put you on. That's what you always wanted, right?"

Batty blinked, not knowing for a moment why the other party looked like he had eaten a barrel of explosives.

"Don't be mean to him. It's not his fault that he fell behind." Walker stood up for Battie. "It's his business who the coach wants to play. What's wrong with complaining a little?"

De Bruyne seemed even angrier.

"I'm telling the truth," he snorted. "If you're substituted in, you'll have a chance to score a goal, and then you can do your stupid celebration dance, right?"

Walker was stunned. He never expected that this was what he cared about.

"It's not stupid, it's awesome." Batty forced a fake smile. "If you're unhappy that we left you out, you can join us. You just saw it and memorized the moves. There's no need to act like a sour grape fox."

De Bruyne wanted to explain, but Arteta came over and asked them to do their routine warm-up exercises, so he pursed his lips, got up and went to the sidelines to warm up without waiting for Batistuta.

"You see, he turned his face away from me!" Batty said to Walker in disbelief, "That's it. I'm going to switch rooms with your roommate tonight. He's angry, isn't he? Then I won't bother him. Let him vent his anger on the pillow."

Kyle Walker did not comment and pushed Battie to warm up quickly.

Are these some kind of quarreling couple, he thought, Kevin and Buddy, ugh, too gay.

……

Until the 70th minute of the second half, Manchester City was still two goals behind, so Guardiola replaced Batistuta to try to turn the situation around.

Facts have proved that this decision is extremely correct. Just 40 seconds after entering the game, Batistuta used a corner kick opportunity to successfully score a goal for Manchester City. Then in the 97th minute, Jesus was brought down in the penalty area and got a penalty kick. Batistuta took the penalty kick and scored twice while helping Manchester City to equalize the game.

Although the season's undefeated streak was broken, Manchester City still remained unbeaten thanks to Batistuta's two goals.

After the game, some media captured Battie and Walker's "happy time" on the bench, which attracted criticism from many parties as the situation on the field was not optimistic at the time.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville said this was an incredible phenomenon. As a South American player, Batistuta's discipline was worrying. If it happened at Manchester United during Sir Alex Ferguson's time, the person who dared to do this would have been dead.

Soon, another media exposed a photo from another angle of the bench. In the photo, Batistuta and Walker were looking at each other sweetly, while De Bruyne next to them had a cold face and looked at the two with disdain and a bit of envy.

As soon as these photos with strong storylines came out, they immediately attracted the interest of the fans. For a while, the topic of [It’s worthy of being the British League] was brought up again.

Stones, who was in Barcelona to treat his thigh muscle, saw the news and his hand trembled, and the screen died gloriously. Then, without caring about anything else, the England center back picked up his phone and bombarded his friends with text messages.

Stones: How many times have I told you to stay away from Batistuta? Why don't you listen?
Walker was confused when he saw the news.

It's just being teased, what's the big deal?
Just as people were thinking divergently about the relationship between De Bruyne, Walker and Batistuta, Manchester City faced its most severe test since the start of the season - the Manchester derby.

(End of this chapter)