Rothen laughed. "What's so surprising? Last season we won the French Cup, beating Ligue 1 teams all the way."
Cahuzac, Joplin, and other veterans all smiled.
Everyone's faces showed confident smiles, this was the confidence of a season's double champions!
The more they talked, the more confident everyone became.
Julien walked to the window, looking at Lille under the night sky, this former coal capital.
Once the industrial heart of northern France, coal mining and textiles created Lille's prosperity.
With developed industry, football originally belonging to the working class, naturally flourished in this city.
Lille's club nickname is Les Dogues, the Mastiffs. This image appears on the club emblem, though its origin is lost.
The most common theory is they descended from Olympique Lille, who won the first French national league championship in the 1932-33 season.
This club was famously tough and combative, earning comparisons to mastiffs.
Additionally, Lille has a similar but more imposing nickname: "War Machine."
This came from their golden period in the 1940s and 50s, when they were either champions or runners-up in domestic league and cup competitions.
Julien withdrew his thoughts. As he turned, he caught sight of Vincent in the corner.
Julien suddenly remembered—Vincent hadn't played for the team in a long time.
He barely even got substitute opportunities. His ability couldn't replace De Bruyne, Rothen, or Kanté.
Julien walked to his side, putting an arm around Vincent's shoulder, pointing at other chatting teammates and laughing. "Right? That pass of yours last season was really cool. Too bad we didn't capitalize on it."
Vincent smiled and rubbed his head. After the team signed more new players, he'd been completely marginalized. He hadn't expected Julien to bring him up to others.
With Julien's lead, Rothen and others also engaged Vincent in conversation.
Looking at the young Vincent, Julien thought that as long as Vincent didn't leave Bastia, next season he'd probably be a midfield rotation starter.
The next day, at 6 PM, tens of thousands of Lille fans had already gathered around the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium.
They walked the streets in groups, many waving flags and shouting slogans.
Bastia's bus traveled through the streets. This time it wasn't as congested as in Marseille.
Lille's police were relatively more reliable. The Bastia bus quickly entered the stadium.
In the locker room, though Bastia players had boasted last night about easily beating Lille, when the moment truly arrived, everyone looked quite serious.
Julien stood in the center, with De Bruyne and Kanté on either side. He put his arms around their shoulders as others formed a circle.
Julien said, "Although we beat them last season, in football, past results never affect the next match's outcome. We need confidence, but also caution in approaching this match. Enough said—for victory, for the fans—"
"FORZA, BASTIA!!"
Everyone shouted together, blood pumping.
Win this!
Keep winning until the end—they'd be champions!
Since Julien first shined, Hadzibegic had been watching him closely. He found Julien increasingly resembled a captain.
In the player tunnel, several Lille players greeted Julien—Debuchy, Mavuba, Payet, Landreau and others, all French national team teammates after all.
But when actually preparing to enter, players on both sides looked quite serious, perhaps finding each other formidable.
Digne's gaze stayed locked on Julien. As a Lille youth product playing left-back, he knew what pressure he'd face tonight.
Both young men, but Julien had kept Digne tense from last night until now.
Reputation precedes the man—this was the pressure Julien now brought to defensive players.
French defenders all knew how strong Julien was.
Soon, players followed the referee into the Mauroy Stadium, built on an old industrial site that had witnessed Lille's city and football rise and fall.
At this moment, fifty thousand fans packed the Mauroy Stadium.
As players entered, fans in the stands roared wildly, faces diverse.
Lille saw major North African immigration in the 20th century, with workers flooding into its factories. The club became a cultural melting pot, and that diversity was reflected on the pitch.
Like Moussa Sow, hero of the 2011 double championship.
Of course, this phenomenon was common throughout France.
With the national team now featuring many players of African heritage, some joked that the Gallic Rooster was slowly turning into a black rooster.
On the field, as captain, Julien conducted the opening ceremony with opposing captain Chedjou.
After Garcia and Hadzibegic's perfunctory handshake, they each stood on the sideline looking grave.
This match wouldn't be easy for either side.
The broadcast gave Julien plenty of close-ups. Bastia fans everywhere were already preparing to watch this match.
At the Sunset Café Bar, Bertrand was still telling fans about the latest news from Le Journal de la Corse—Bastia had reached an agreement with Arsenal to loan their young goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for half a season.
The specific loan details weren't clear, but this loan was basically confirmed.
Bertrand said, "Good news. This is our first winter signing. Loans are cost-effective for us now. The team probably really is out of money."
One fan added, "I heard this Damián will arrive in Bastia next week to start training with the team. Though he can't play for Bastia yet, arriving early is still important for team chemistry."
Everyone chimed in.
On TV, the referee blew the whistle—the match officially began.
Fans gradually quieted down, attention fully returning to the match.
Though Bastia was currently first, in fact, the gap with the three teams behind wasn't large.
So, fans were nervous.
If the team couldn't maintain its form and was easily overtaken, they'd lose initiative.
No wonder the club revealed winter transfer news at this juncture—giving fans some confidence.
"Whoa! Lukaku's really fast!"
"Too bad his feet fumbled..."
At the Mauroy Stadium, Lukaku received De Bruyne's through ball, turned and sprinted. He'd already gained a positional advantage, but because he didn't control the ball well, his body went forward while the ball lagged behind.
Chedjou intercepted.
Lukaku laughed awkwardly, giving De Bruyne a thumbs up. He also felt he'd hit a jam recently, with declining scoring efficiency.
Lukaku felt playing against these Ligue 1 defenders was somewhat awkward, always feeling off.
Actually, Hadzibegic could see—Bastia was gradually being figured out by other teams.
They all knew how Bastia played.
Yet Bastia could maintain first place for a simple reason, Julien was truly hard to contain, almost unsolvable.
Even if opponents knew how to target Bastia, Julien could always step up and breakthrough for the team.
"Defend!"
So, seeing Lukaku miss this opportunity, Hadzibegic wasn't anxious, shouting to defenders.
His tactical approach this match was relatively simple, eight words: establish defense, strike when ready.
On Lille's side, offensive core Marvin Martin was frustrated being limited by Kanté. Once he entered the front area covered by Kanté, he felt stuck, unable to shake Kanté without passing the ball.
Bang!
Marvin Martin tried again, ultimately protecting the ball with difficulty and passing horizontally to Payet.
Letting Payet organize on the wing. But Payet's organizational ability was far inferior to Marvin Martin's.
Within Bastia, Rothen had won the Ligue 1 assist title. But Marvin Martin was the player with the most assists in a single Ligue 1 season since data tracking began!
In the 2010/11 season, still playing for Sochaux, he set this record with 19 assists.
Precisely because of his stellar Sochaux performance, Blanc brought him into the national team. In June 2011, Martin made his national team debut in a friendly against Ukraine.
The debut was incredibly impressive.
Unfortunately, Blanc didn't give him opportunities at the Euros.
Coming to Lille this summer, injuries began appearing. Before this start, he'd been sidelined about a month.
French media thought injuries might make Martin a brilliant but brief meteor at Lille—shining bright then fading fast.
Perhaps due to injury, his body couldn't exert force properly, not opening up.
When Payet's wing advance proved fruitless and he passed back to Martin, just as the ball settled at his feet, Kanté pressed forward, forcing Martin sideways, snatching the ball from his feet.
Whoosh!
Lille fans at the scene couldn't believe it. They'd been very excited about Martin this summer, but after these months of matches—
They felt this transfer was probably a wash.
This cost the club ten million euros in transfer fees!
Some Lille fans couldn't help comparing to De Bruyne, Chelsea bought him for barely over ten million euros.
By comparison, what a loss!
Just as they pondered this and that, Bastia's attack had already reached their penalty area.
The TF1 commentator couldn't help exclaiming, "Bastia's counterattack speed is really too fast!"
Indeed it was fast.
From Kanté's interception to the front, only two passes in between.
This was Bastia's current playing style. As extremely streamlined as possible.
If the first strike fails, wait for the second opportunity.
But defense always remained primary, leading media to evaluate Bastia as "clearly quite strong yet overly cautious for a promoted team."
With Bastia's midfield-forward configuration, many media felt Bastia could absolutely pull out and play attacking football against opponents.
Like right now—
In the penalty area, Lukaku received De Bruyne's pass, back to goal holding off Chedjou, then passed to the surging Julien.
Julien cut inside, created space with a feint, then curled a shot!
Goalkeeper Landreau had already predicted this shot. Now whenever he saw Julien cut inside, he predicted a shot.
Landreau flew to push the ball destined for the far corner over the crossbar.
Defusing Lille's crisis.
Whew!
This scene made fans on site breathe with relief. Seeing Julien shoot truly frightened them.
"Julien's still too overpowered!"
A fan lamented.
Left corner kick.
Bastia's two center-backs, including Angula, entered the box ready to compete.
Julien stood on the perimeter—his heading and aerial ability was relatively weak. He'd wait for second-ball opportunities.
Tweet!
The referee's whistle sounded.
De Bruyne signaled, then curled the ball toward the center of the box.
But this kick went a bit high, no one in the center touched it.
It landed far post.
Julien immediately rushed over, controlling the ball. Mavuba and Digne blocked in front of him.
Julien once again faced a two-man press.
Previously, he'd succeeded about half the time. This time in the heart of their area, Mavuba and Digne were obviously more cautious.
As Julien touched the ball, he observed their movements. Neither moved preemptively, they knew against Julien, moving first meant being beaten.
At this moment, Rothen was already inserting forward. Julien glanced that way, feinting a pass.
Mavuba's attention flickered.
Julien flicked the ball, then pushed it toward the baseline, looking to force through.
Mavuba, older after all, reacted a bit slow. Digne kept up though.
But this created a gap between the two.
Julien smoothly nutmegged the moving Digne, exploded with an incredibly fast first step, directly shooting through the gap between Mavuba and Digne.
Digne was so confused by Julien's series of moves: wanting to block the baseline breakthrough, wanting to turn and pull Julien back, wanting to intercept the pass with his feet.
Ultimately accomplishing none of it.
And watched helplessly as Julien burst through.
Whoosh!
In this instant, the Mauroy Stadium erupted in thunder. This dribble, even for opponents was undeniably spectacular.
The commentator shouted, "This is De ROCCCAAA! Brilliant dribbling! This is Bastia's great chance! DE ROCCA, DEEE ROCCA!"
After breaking into the box, defensive reinforcements had no time to catch Julien. A huge opening!
Only Digne and Mavuba chased from behind.
Landreau stared intently at Julien. Julien's ball control slowed a beat as he glanced at the center, Lukaku and De Bruyne both inserted into position.
Julien's left foot guided the ball to his comfortable right foot position.
Not looking at the goal.
Right foot swung back.
A cross?!
In front of the six-yard box, Chedjou and Baša all rushed forward, preparing to block the pass.
Landreau even turned to check Bastia's receiving positions in the center.
But just that one glance—
Swish!
The ball flew into the net from the periphery of his vision.
Whoosh!
Lille fans were stunned. Lille players were stunned.
Even the commentator was stunned, shouting excitedly, "Oh my God! That's De Rocca with a no-look right-footed outside curve shot?!
GOOOAALLL!! DE ROCCA scores! Only 17 minutes in, Bastia leads Lille again!"
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