"Julien, just rest well tonight and watch how I destroy them!"
In the locker room, Lukaku was getting ready while talking to Julien.
Lukaku, averaging a goal per game, had found his joy in football at Bastia.
Now he felt invincible—forget Messi and Ronaldo, he was the strongest!
Julien said, "I hope you don't go three times past the goal without scoring."
Lukaku laughed and replied, "That's impossible! Tonight, I'll show you what the Belgian Klose looks like—the aerial king!"
In tonight's tactics from Hadzibegic, with Julien not starting, new signing Ilan would play on the right wing, and Lukaku would play as the lone striker.
The players walked toward the tunnel.
Sainati, who was benched tonight, saw Aubameyang and went over to greet him with a smile.
The two had been together in Bastia's youth academy in 2005. Although Sainati was a generation older than Aubameyang and quickly made it to the first team, he knew all three Aubameyang brothers from back then.
Julien walked past them.
Seeing the still-youthful Aubameyang—nicknamed the 'Beautiful Sheep'—Julien couldn't help but think of the road that lay ahead for the Gabonese international: the dazzling goals at Dortmund, the captaincy at Arsenal, the brief triumph at Barcelona, the struggles at Chelsea, and the other chapters that would make him one of football's great wanderers.
Before all that, he had been an AC Milan youth player.
And before AC Milan, he had been a Bastia youth player.
From Bastia's youth academy records, Julien learned that Aubameyang had spent two years in Bastia's youth system.
Then AC Milan spent a hundred thousand euros to take all three brothers as a package deal.
However, the three Aubameyang brothers never gained recognition from AC Milan's coaching staff. Among them, the youngest and most talented—the one wearing Saint-Étienne's jersey tonight.
He had been loaned out by AC Milan to wander through various French clubs: Dijon, Lille, Monaco.
Saint-Étienne was his fourth stop.
This past January, Aubameyang's ability had finally gained Saint-Étienne's recognition, and they decided to buy him outright. Even then, his owner AC Milan still questioned his ability. Having no expectations for Aubameyang, AC Milan sold him for just 1.8 million euros.
Now Aubameyang was purely a Saint-Étienne player, with no connection to AC Milan at all.
Seeming to sense the scrutinizing gaze, Aubameyang turned to look.
His eyes met Julien's, and the two nodded cordially. Then they passed each other.
Seeing Julien, Aubameyang felt a surge of fighting spirit. Last season, he had lost the Golden Boot race to Giroud.
This season, his biggest rival would be De Rocca.
Having always played in France, Aubameyang was all too familiar with De Rocca. This was a name that French media mentioned most of the time.
There was even a phenomenon—if someone in French youth teams had excellent dribbling skills, people wouldn't just call him "the new Ronaldinho" or "the new Messi," but also "the new De Rocca."
To win the Ligue 1 Golden Boot, Julien De Rocca was a name that had to be faced.
Furiani Stadium
When the pre-match starting lineup came out without Julien, the fans were somewhat disappointed. But at kickoff, the atmosphere was still electric!
Blue smoke spread throughout the stadium.
The players played football like CS players—after the smoke screen, it was man-to-man combat.
Julien sat on the bench.
Mané and Clauss sat beside him, with Mané's eyes full of desire to play.
Clauss, on the other hand, was quite happy being a water bottle manager.
He dreamed of stepping onto the Ligue 1 stage.
But for someone who had been playing fifth-division amateur football last season, even one minute of playing time this season would be exciting enough to share with his family.
So, for that one minute of playing time, he trained incredibly hard.
After all, this was his only chance to touch top-level football.
Whoa!
Exclamations came from the crowd.
Lukaku was down again!
De Bruyne pulled the ball wide and sent a long cross. Lukaku jumped with all his might, but under pressure from two defenders, he failed to reach the ball. His head collided with something, and he went straight down.
Julien shook his head.
Bastia's attacking play was difficult. Saint-Étienne clearly hadn't adopted a pressing approach just because Bastia were newly promoted. Instead, they defended deep and put Aubameyang as the lone striker.
Using Aubameyang's pace to hit Bastia on the counter.
Speaking of Aubameyang. His greatest asset was his speed.
Relatively speaking, his dribbling technique was quite ordinary. Although he appeared on the wing, his technical skills were far behind those silky, flexible dribblers. His flexibility was average, and his balance was even worse.
He could only rely on pace to overtake.
When he first returned to Ligue 1 from 2009-2011, he only managed a mediocre record of 6 goals in 65 games.
This was why AC Milan felt their lottery ticket was worthless.
After joining Saint-Étienne in 2011, Aubameyang met his life mentor—Galtier.
This coach was making Saint-Étienne his first proper head coaching role. Previously, he had been Perrin's assistant at Lyon and Saint-Étienne.
Galtier believed Aubameyang was better suited to the center-forward position. He placed the fast Aubameyang, who also had a height advantage, in the striker role.
And taught him how to use his speed advantage for positioning, making runs, and finishing.
Aubameyang transformed from a winger into a super striker who could make runs and had pace. He used his speed in the right way—making repeated runs through the center, cleverly seeking opportunities, rather than getting bogged down in physical battles on the wing.
This was the mark of a great coach. A brilliant coach can improve players rather than waste their talent.
Tweet!!
The referee's whistle sounded.
His finger pointed to the center circle.
Saint-Étienne had scored!
The goalscorer was their midfield playmaker, number 10 Cohade. Aubameyang had charged forward with the ball, and when surrounded, he played it back to Cohade.
Cohade struck a worldie.
Noviš had no chance and could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the net.
The Furiani Stadium fans shook their heads helplessly.
But Bastia's misery wasn't over. Fifteen minutes later, Saint-Étienne's left-back Brisson overlapped and sent in a cross. Aubameyang's ghostly movement, using his pace, saw him suddenly dart forward.
A toe-poke finish!
0-2.
After just 33 minutes, Bastia were two goals down.
Hadzibegic shook his head as he watched.
The attacking play had actually been quite good—they just lacked that final touch. But they couldn't stop conceding even faster at the back.
In the stands, Chataigner's expression was grave.
This goalkeeper situation had to change. Noviš was too short and didn't have quick enough reactions.
After showing Saint-Étienne's celebration, the broadcast immediately cut to a close-up of Julien on the bench.
The commentator even said, "Bastia seems to have developed 'De Rocca dependency syndrome.'"
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