The Stadium erupted once again!
Giroud pointed at De Rocca, his face beaming with joy. "Well done, pote(buddy)!"
The two embraced, shoulders together, and charged toward the stands.
After Giroud celebrated with raised arms, he said to De Rocca, "Come on, you too."
Julien looked puzzled for a moment.
Giroud was already spreading his arms wide in front of the stands, and Julien instantly understood.
He joined him, spreading his arms in celebration.
In the stands, the fans went wild with excitement. Even though this was just a friendly match, they could see France's future.
Deschamps hadn't yet revealed much of his attacking tactics.
But De Rocca had already demonstrated world-class offensive talent!
2-1.
France took the lead again.
The Uruguayan players, including Tabárez, looked somewhat helpless. This De Rocca was simply unstoppable.
Cavani stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Julien with pure amazement in his eyes.
In that defensive sequence, he felt like De Rocca had completely fooled him.
Exceptional ball control, exceptional footwork, exceptional speed—in the fans' eyes, De Rocca was simply invincible.
However, after this sprint, Julien rubbed the back of his thigh muscles slightly.
This made the fans on site somewhat worried.
During the Euros, De Rocca had injured his adductor muscle from sprinting too hard. Could his hamstring muscle group be injured again?
Deschamps, who had been in good spirits on the sideline, immediately became concerned when he saw this gesture.
This was his newly acquired sports car—surely it couldn't be that fragile?
Julien himself wasn't too worried. Minor injuries didn't matter, and major injuries could build resistance.
He just lamented that he was still too fragile, or perhaps forcing abilities that didn't match his attributes naturally led to injuries.
Deschamps shouted to Julien, pointing to his own thigh, then made circular motions with both index fingers, asking if he needed to be substituted.
Julien waved his hand dismissively.
The match continued.
However, after running just a few steps on the field, Julien felt something wrong with the back of his thigh. He sat down on the ground.
Tweet!
The referee immediately blew the whistle, ran to Julien's side to inquire, and immediately called for the team doctor.
Deschamps' mood plummeted.
The team doctor ran over. "Where does it hurt?"
"Here." Julien quickly touched the back of his thigh.
After the team doctor performed simple tests like palpation, he said to Julien, "De Rocca, you can't continue playing. We suspect you have a hamstring strain and need further examination for proper treatment."
Julien nodded.
The sooner the injury, the sooner the recovery. The sooner the recovery, the sooner he could build resistance.
Hamstring injuries were mostly caused by long-distance high-speed sprinting, sudden stops with direction changes, and sudden acceleration.
He had just forced his rage mode and executed a second acceleration—it would be strange if he hadn't gotten injured.
Currently, his strength attribute was only 69, which corresponded to muscle strength. This attribute was indeed pathetic.
No wonder his injury resistance was only 55—he was quite fragile.
While the team doctor sprayed ethyl chloride aerosol on him, Julien checked his injury panel.
[Right leg hamstring mild strain: Recovery time approximately 10 days.]
Not too bad.
Julien was helped up and tested—he could walk off the field on his own.
Clap, clap, clap!
When Julien stood up, the fans in the stadium gave him applause. His teammates even came over to comfort him.
"I hope it's nothing serious," Giroud said, his expression no longer showing the excitement of scoring. If he could choose, he would rather not have this goal than see Julien injured.
Julien just waved dismissively signaling him to not worry too much.
The Uruguayan players also came over to speak with him, though he couldn't understand them. He just smiled at them for their behavior.
Giroud translated the words for him: "Cavani says you're very impressive. Rest well, and he hopes to face you again, especially at the World Cup, though he doesn't want to meet you before the semifinals."
Julien left the field, and Cabaye came on his place.
The match continued.
Deschamps immediately came over to embrace Julien. "How is it? Any major problems?"
Julien smiled and said. "Nothing serious. Probably need about a week to recover. The hamstring is a bit pulled."
Deschamps shook his head. "Next time don't sprint so hard. Take it steady."
Julien followed the team doctor into the locker room for further examination.
Soon, Bastia received word from the French national team's medical staff: Julien was injured.
"What?!"
Chataigner, who had been basking in the joy of the treble and fantasizing about the new season, immediately exploded when he received the call.
"What? How serious is it?! What happened?"
The team doctor said it wasn't too serious, they were waiting for test results, then hung up.
Chataigner was furious, he was cursing up a storm.
"Fils de pute!! Damn Blanc! Damn Deschamps! They're all bloodsuckers! Ugly as tunas! Can't such a big country like France find a single right winger?! They just keep using Julien to death!"
He ranted for a full five minutes. The staff outside his office had no idea what had gotten into Chataigner.
Soon, they found out.
Chataigner emerged from his office and said to an assistant, "Go to the training ground and tell Faruk that De Rocca is injured with the national team. He can't play the first Ligue 1 match. Tell him to figure something out."
"Huh?"
The staff members were stunned, then had the same reaction as Chataigner.
Julien had played most of the season at Bastia without any problems.
How could he get injured twice since joining the national team!
They all angrily criticized the national team for misusing young players. They were all die-hard Bastia fans too.
At the training ground, Hadzibegic felt like the sky was falling when he got this news, because the message had become distorted in transmission.
The national team doctor had told Chataigner it wasn't serious and wouldn't take long.
In his anger, Chataigner hadn't explained clearly to his assistant.
The assistant just said he'd miss some Ligue 1 time.
When Hadzibegic processed this in his mind, it became "season-ending injury."
He truly felt like the sky was collapsing.
Under the puzzled gazes of the players, he said absent-mindedly, "Julien is injured with the national team. Season over."
"What?!"
"Putain"
"Merde"
Everyone was stunned.
Season-ending—that would require a massive injury. Rothen and other veteran teammates knew that Julien had finally realized his potential again, only to suffer another major injury?
Truly, heaven envies talent.
This misunderstanding continued at Bastia until evening training ended.
Chataigner came to the training ground and said, "Julien will miss the first match, you all—"
'The first match?'
Everyone compared information and realized it had all been a misunderstanding.
Now Hadzibegic immediately relaxed. "As long as it's not season-ending, thank goodness."
Compared to a season-ending injury, missing one game was certainly more acceptable.
This time, Julien didn't recuperate at Clairefontaine. After the team doctor confirmed there were no major problems, he returned to Bastia.
When Chataigner picked him up at the airport, he hugged him and said, "Next time with the national team, take it easy! If you're injured, they have others to replace you, but Bastia only has you!"
His words were heartfelt. Chataigner was nearly moved to tears by his own words.
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