Kanté's development had gradually begun to diverge from the trajectory that Julien had known in his previous life.
His organizational abilities hadn't yet been showcased due to tactical considerations. After all, Bastia's current midfield playmaker was De Bruyne, and even when De Bruyne wasn't available, it was Rothen.
There was no need for him.
Kanté was being used by Hadzibegic as a pure defensive midfielder. But he was exceptionally effective!
In training, Kanté's defensive targets were always players like Julien and Mané—those who combined speed with excellent dribbling ability. This made him far more composed when facing other players.
Like now, Turan was a player with exquisite ball control, but this first encounter saw him completely locked down by Kanté.
On the sidelines, Hadzibegic couldn't help but applaud Kanté vigorously. Players like Kanté who trained diligently off the pitch without causing off-field incidents, and on the pitch spared no energy running to implement tactical arrangements, what coach wouldn't love them?
Atlético quickly regrouped for another attack.
Turan's position began shifting toward the left, attacking Angoula's flank.
Simeone watched the changing situation on the pitch, his brow slightly furrowed. He had analyzed the problems from their first-leg defeat, summarizing them into three points:
Defensive structure collapse—their flanks were breached by Julien's individual brilliance, with poor coordination between center-backs and full-backs in covering. For instance, one goal conceded came after Julien broke through on the wing and transferred the ball to the weak side.
Midfield loss of control—Koke was still too young, lacking physical confrontation, which allowed their opponent De Bruyne to easily connect with the wingers through long passes.
Inefficient counter-attacks, Costa was constantly isolated.
So, this time against Bastia, his tactical core focused on strengthening vertical penetration. Falcao started to provide a pivot in the box, and Turan returned to the left to enhance individual breakthrough ability on the flank.
Block the long-ball connections between De Bruyne and Julien, cut off the counter-attack source through midfield strangulation.
They also needed to exploit set pieces and aerial bombardment more—Simeone knew that Bastia's Ligue 2 defense wasn't always reliable, especially goalkeeper Novaes. These were all opportunities for Atlético.
However, After Atlético's opening offensive wave, Simeone discovered that Bastia's defense wasn't as fragile as expected.
Especially Angoula, though his technique was rough, his mental attributes and confrontational ferocity made him seem more like an Atlético player than Atlético's own players.
What would Simeone think if he knew Angoula used to be a Muay Thai fighter?
Tweet!
The referee blew his whistle. Turan's attacking breakthrough on the left was stopped by Angoula, who took down both man and ball together.
Free kick to Atlético.
Turan got up with his teammates' help, looking displeased. Stifled in the center, stifled on the flank too.
Clap, clap, clap!
The Bastia fans in attendance applauded enthusiastically. It was only after Julien and others arrived at Bastia that they injected technical elements into the team.
In the past, players like Angoula were typical of Bastia.
Just as Chataigner had told Hadzibegic: "We are Bastia! We're mainlanders called islanders, synonymous with crudeness, ferocity, and brutality. We don't need others' approval, we just need them to fear us."
Bang!
Atlético took the free kick, driving the ball directly into the center where players from both sides battled fiercely.
Contrary to Simeone's expectation that Atlético would gain advantage from set pieces, Bastia didn't suffer in defending aerial balls. However, this time Atlético protected the second ball well.
Cutting off Bastia's chance to launch a counter-attack from the set piece.
Simeone knew Bastia's counter-attacks were strong, so his requirement for the players was to maintain possession as much as possible. Even when losing the ball, immediately press to prevent Bastia from launching quick counter-attacks.
Among them, De Bruyne was marked very tightly.
While Simeone's deployment against Julien on the flank was just to have Filipe shadow him throughout, for De Bruyne, the midfield had two players pressing him whenever he touched the ball.
This arrangement was successful.
Bastia already had few attacking opportunities, and with De Bruyne marked out of the game and no one to distribute the ball, Bastia's front-to-back connection broke down.
Several counter-attacks failed to materialize.
The TF1 commentator said, "It seems Simeone has truly found a way to restrain Bastia. However, Bastia is defending stubbornly and Atlético has no solution for now. And I believe both Bastia's players and fans can accept a draw.
Atlético is Bastia's biggest competitor in the group stage. If it ends in a draw, Bastia with one win and one draw will gain enormous initiative, with a much higher probability of finishing first in the group."
At Stade Armand Cesari, the fans' songs and cheers were never-ending.
Julien had few opportunities to touch the ball, but whenever he did, it triggered cheers from the entire stadium.
He was the king of Stade Armand Cesari!
The match fell into a stalemate.
Neither side could break the deadlock.
Opportunities were scarce for both teams.
Mainly because Atlético was playing cautiously this match. As the commentator put it, Simeone was "traumatized by Bastia's counter-attacks from the last match."
At this moment, there were two unusual visitors in the Bastia stands.
Begiristain and Soriano.
The two had quietly arrived in Bastia without attracting any attention.
With most of the first half gone, they had personally scouted Julien with their own eyes.
Soriano said, "Julien is absolutely an indispensable figure for us to start Manchester City's new chapter. His ball-carrying ability is too outstanding, at least a level above Nasri."
Soriano had watched plenty of Nasri's matches, summarizing him as talented but mentally and form unstable.
When things were going well, comparable to Julien.
When things weren't going well, he was a powder keg, the team's biggest threat.
So, abandoning Nasri and building around Julien as the core was the first major objective Soriano proposed after taking office.
Begiristain deeply agreed, "But we may not necessarily be his destination. Many top clubs are eyeing him now."
Soriano shook his head, "No, although there are few reports about Julien's personal statements, most concentrated on before he came to Bastia. I believe Julien is definitely someone with a clear head. We just need to tell him our advantages, and we'll wait for his final choice."
Begiristain nodded, "Then when we search for a new coach, we must find someone who can build a system around the wingers—properly supporting with full-backs, tilting midfield support, and having the striker provide link-up play, making Julien the absolute core."
Soriano strongly agreed with this point.
To attract a top young talent, salary often isn't the most important thing—tactical status is more crucial.
Manchester City's current squad looked impressive enough, with players like Džeko, Agüero, David Silva, Yaya Touré, Kompany, and others.
But actually, the ceiling wasn't high enough and didn't align with City's grand ambitions.
"So, we must also show him the team's determination—the resolve to compete for the Champions League title and become a top team in Europe and the world!"
Soriano thought for a moment, "We need to find a way to package several Bastia players together—Julien, De Bruyne, and Kanté."
Begiristain had long harbored this intention, "Julien is top-tier ready-to-use talent. De Bruyne and Kanté both look like promising prospects—at least their Europa League performances are completely worth buying and developing."
De Bruyne's many ways of handling the ball deeply won over the two men.
Manchester City's current midfield cores were mainly David Silva and Yaya Touré.
If they added De Bruyne, this midfield configuration should be able to compete with those top clubs, right?
The two chatted intermittently.
Watching Julien on the pitch, they were utterly satisfied, wishing they could throw money at Bastia this winter window to bring Julien to Manchester City.
But they also understood clearly.
Julien would never leave Bastia in the winter window. The fact that Julien had his agent reject all contact before the winter window showed he wanted to stay at Bastia for a complete season.
"This summer's transfer window will be a bloodbath," Begiristain sighed.
A top talent like Julien—Bastia couldn't keep him. This would be a feast for the elite clubs, just to see who could get him.
Even Marca recently reported that Real Madrid was preparing to sign Julien and willing to promise him a starting position.
However, this report was quickly questioned by Mundo Deportivo, asking: if Real Madrid wants Julien, what about Bale?
If Real Madrid gives starting positions to both Julien and Bale, what about Ronaldo and Benzema?
So, Mundo Deportivo directly stated Julien couldn't possibly transfer to Real Madrid, openly undermining Marca.
But these two media outlets clashed too often anyway—after all, one was Real Madrid's mouthpiece and the other Barcelona's. If not completely opposed, they were certainly like fire and water.
Tweet!!
As the two chatted, the first half came to an end, and the referee's whistle blew.
Both sides remained at 0-0.
Simeone's brow furrowed tightly as he walked quickly toward the locker room without a word.
Hadzibegic was constantly pondering how to break the deadlock of De Bruyne being strangled in midfield and unable to distribute the ball.
Julien had little impact this half, mainly because Bastia's overall possession time was limited.
Bastia only had three shots in the first half, one on target.
That shot on target came from Julien forcing his way inside to shoot, but unfortunately, he didn't keep it down—wanting too much power, it went slightly over the bar.
Atlético's attacking statistics looked much better—aside from not scoring, all other data was extremely impressive.
In Atlético's locker room, Simeone's words were intense: "45 minutes, you only allowed the opponent one shot on target! Yes, that's very good, that's what we wanted, but what about you?
Arda, you succeeded in breaking through a few times, but your crosses were like clearances for the opponent! I want you to aim the ball at Falcao's head, not his knees!"
"The opponent couldn't mount a single counter-attack this match. Their defense is just a bunch of Ligue 2 players thrown together—this should have been a crushing match by any measure, right? But the result? The result!!"
Hearing Simeone's words, the players all hung their heads. Indeed, looking at the paper strength, they should have been the crushing side.
Yet they couldn't score despite sustained pressure.
If they hadn't locked down the opponent's midfield this match, they might have conceded again.
This disparity from league matches left them somewhat bewildered.
A Ligue 1 team, this difficult to play against?
Wasn't it said that Ligue 1 teams were all from a farmers' league? At most just PSG as a nouveau riche farmer.
Turned out they'd run into a tough customer.
On the other side, Hadzibegic told the players to maintain their current state.
"Even a draw is a win for us!"
There were no additional tactical arrangements, because Hadzibegic himself hadn't figured it out.
Some media hostile to Bastia always said Hadzibegic didn't live up to his reputation, that his current achievements were entirely due to riding on Julien's coattails.
At least in terms of in-game adjustments, he wasn't as good as many renowned coaches.
He just told Rothen to help more with distribution and send long balls forward to the strikers.
Soon, halftime ended.
Returning to the pitch, Bastia fans were as enthusiastic as ever, cheering loudly.
"Julien!"
Fans near the tunnel saw the players emerge and shouted their captain's name with all their might.
Julien waved to them.
His gaze settled on the pitch, also pondering how to break the stalemate.
Unfortunately, when the match resumed, it fell back into the first-half pattern—Bastia's attack was toothless.
Gone was their usual sharp counter-attacking form.
De Bruyne was playing very frustrated, even getting into a shoving match with Gabi, nearly receiving a yellow card.
This was to some extent a reflection of Bastia's current midfield chaos.
"He still needs more experience," Begiristain said from the stands, watching De Bruyne's state and shaking his head slightly.
Soriano beside him said, "He's young, it's normal."
When the time reached 65 minutes, Julien was brought down on the wing, nearly triggering a mass brawl.
This was also a manifestation of both teams' emotions being suppressed to a certain degree.
"Julien, crush them!"
As Julien got up, he heard the fans' shouts from the sidelines, and he spotted familiar faces in the crowd.
Mbappé and Saliba.
The two waved at him excitedly. Julien nodded slightly and returned to the pitch.
The challenges from both sides gradually became rougher, and this made Bastia fans feel their team was returning to tradition.
Whenever Atlético had the ball, they erupted in boos.
At 75 minutes, Hadzibegic finally made his first substitution of the match.
He took off Cahuzac, moved Angoula back to center-back position, then brought on Clauss.
Since the midfield couldn't distribute the ball, let the flanks overlap.
Hadzibegic had been reluctant to bring on Clauss because he was worried about Clauss's defending.
Now with just over ten minutes left, he decided to go for broke!
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