Crash!
The sound of breaking glass.
Martin beat his chest, shouting, "That was fucking amazing! Julien! It has to be Julien!"
Others chimed in agreement.
"The ability Julien displays is clearly a level above the others. Ilan is completely insufficient to support the right-wing attack."
"No one can be Julien's substitute because the difference is just too great. If we had another great left winger to fly alongside Julien on both wings, no one in Ligue 1 could stop us. Too bad the team has no money to buy anyone else."
They couldn't remember a player named Sadio Mané.
On the field.
Hadzibegic and his assistants hugged each other, "The team really falls apart without Julien."
Galtier shook his head, but his eyes still flashed with determination as he signaled to his players: keep attacking.
He was clear about one thing.
Against a team like Bastia, defending was difficult. It was better to exploit Bastia's defensive weaknesses with repeated attacks. It was about who would break first.
Tweet!
The match continued.
After Saint-Étienne's kickoff, they continued attacking Bastia's defensive zone.
Kanté and Rothen's frontal defense in midfield had already shown Saint-Étienne the defensive intensity in the first half.
So, Saint-Étienne continued to target Bastia's wing defense.
And direct balls over the top!
Bang!
Cohade got the ball and launched a long ball looking for Aubameyang in the center.
Fortunately, Choplin headed it away.
Aubameyang kept making runs behind Bastia's defensive line.
When Bastia had possession, they mainly relied on De Bruyne and Julien's attacks.
The left wing was relatively empty.
This was Bastia's norm when attacking, so Sidibé frequently overlapped to help in attack.
But with little effect.
The real threats still came from Julien.
"Wow!"
In the 64th minute, Julien seized an opportunity to cut inside and curled a shot toward the far corner, which grazed the post and went out for a goal kick.
This left the Bastia fans very disappointed.
"Just a little bit off. The quality of De Rocca's shot was already high enough. Brisson still provided some interference to Julien, otherwise he could have been more comfortable with his finish."
The commentary echoed through the television.
Deschamps and Zidane, in different countries but almost at the same time, felt regret for Julien's shot.
Zidane actually saw that Julien still had a lot of room for improvement.
He finally understood why Julien had chosen to round the goalkeeper so many times rather than shoot directly—it was likely because his shooting ability wasn't that strong.
However, that overhead kick just now was indeed spectacular enough. But compared to those top strikers, Julien's shooting still had room for improvement.
Julien's current goal-scoring efficiency was still quite high, with plenty of goals, but this was all built on the foundation of having wide ball possession and unlimited shooting rights.
This was also why Zidane felt Julien shouldn't move to a big club yet.
Because at a big club, no one would give him so much possession.
Even Mourinho's meaning was that Julien needed defensive ability.
Defense was another major weakness of Julien's.
But these "flaws" of Julien's were nothing in Zidane's eyes.
What is genius? Is it being well-rounded?
No! Never!
In Zidane's eyes, a first-class football player wasn't afraid of having weaknesses, but of having no distinguishing features.
Mediocrity was the real flaw.
"Romelu! Buuuttt!! Beautiful footwork, beautiful shot!"
While Zidane was still thinking about Julien, Lukaku scored on television.
Receiving De Bruyne's pass in the penalty area, facing Zouma's defense, he pulled off a stepover, created space, and fired a tight-angle shot into the near post.
Bastia had equalized!
Lukaku laughed as he ran off the field, leaping high with arms raised in celebration. After landing, he spread his arms wide toward the stands.
This time, he was met with thunderous cheers from the Bastia fans.
Though not as intense as when Julien scored, it still made him feel a power flowing through his body.
This was why he loved football. From football, he could gain confidence and recognition from others!
Recognition was something very important to Lukaku.
Two goals in a row.
The Bastia fans went wild, singing the team song in unison in the stands.
Chataigner laughed heartily in the stands, even having the urge to stand up and shout that "all these players were signed by him."
Beside him, Geronimi watched the surging blue ocean throughout the stadium, his heart excited, shouting "Good!" several times in a row.
His eyes were even getting misty.
"This is the Bastia I want to see. This money wasn't wasted!"
Hearing Geronimi's words, Chataigner laughed, "Chairman, if you can get more money from the bank, we can do even better."
"Haha," Geronimi was in a good mood at this moment, but when it came to money, he also spread his hands, "It's difficult, unless by the winter window, we can confirm the team advances to the Europa League knockout stage, and we'll also have to see how many wins we get in the group stage. If things go well, in the winter window I can continue to get loans based on the team's expected earnings, but if..."
Geronimi shook his head, not continuing. But the meaning was clear.
If they were eliminated early from the Europa League, there would be nothing.
Chataigner nodded, "Having your word is enough!"
Making it to the Europa League meant every victory was money—each team could get a guaranteed 640,000 euros. A single win earned 140,000 euros, while a draw earned 70,000 euros.
If they won all six group stage matches, they could accumulate up to 1.84 million euros!
For big teams, this was just a drop in the ocean, but for a team like Bastia, nearly two million euros in prize money was enough to bring in a solid defensive player.
Moreover, advancing to the Round of 32 brought 200,000 euros; each subsequent advancement brought 300,000, 400,000, and 700,000 euros respectively.
Up to 3 million euros for the champion and 2 million for the runner-up.
The maximum total prize money could reach 6.44 million euros.
Of course, this was if they won everything.
Chataigner didn't dream that big; he just wanted the team to make it to the knockout stage.
Give them another one or two million budget for the winter window, and he could bring the team a more reliable goalkeeper.
Novaes really wasn't good enough.
Crash!
As he and Geronimi were talking, just after saying Novaes wasn't good enough, he made another mistake!
Bastia's attack in the final third was intercepted.
Saint-Étienne launched a long ball directly toward Bastia's half. Novaes came out of his penalty area to challenge, with Aubameyang rushing up to compete for the header.
Novaes was even shorter than Aubameyang and failed to win the header.
Aubameyang headed the ball toward the penalty area.
Then Aubameyang quickly chased after it and scored into an empty net.
Saint-Étienne took the lead again!
The Bastia fans felt devastated.
But this wasn't over yet.
In the 73rd minute, Aubameyang's hat-trick arrived.
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