On the winter night in Toulouse, the temperature wasn't high, you could see white breath from the fans. But at the moment Julien shot, the white breath disappeared.
Everyone gasped, watching the ball arc through the air, then pierce through Ahamada's fingers and crash into the net.
Swish!
The sound of the ball's leather rubbing against the net seemed to ring in everyone's ears.
2-1.
Bastia had pulled one back.
"Julien!!"
In the away section, Modoso and the fans shouted Julien's name together.
The TF1 commentator shouted, "Buuuuut!! De Rocca's volley! This was his first touch after just being substituted on, and he immediately scored. Worthy of being Julien De Rocca, worthy of being Ligue 1's top scorer, worthy of being France's hope for the future!!"
The commentator's voice couldn't be heard clearly in Bastia's various pubs and bars.
At this moment, it was completely drowned out by the fans' roar and the violent clinking of glasses.
On the pitch, after scoring, Julien didn't celebrate. He rushed to the net, took the ball from Ahamada's hands, then waved to his teammates, gesturing for them to hurry back to the center circle.
"Hurry up, there's still a chance!"
Julien shouted as he ran to the center circle, placing the ball at the kickoff spot.
This goal greatly lifted Bastia's players, including Hadzibegic on the sideline.
Meanwhile, Toulouse's coach Casanova looked troubled. After seeing Julien come on, he had deliberately directed his players to pay attention to defending Julien.
And Julien scored with his very first touch!
Casanova rubbed his bald head, thinking about what to do next.
This former goalkeeper who had only played for Le Havre and Toulouse in his playing career seamlessly transitioned to become Toulouse's assistant coach after retiring.
From 1995 until 2008, he worked his way up through five head coaches including Rudi Garcia, now Marseille's coach.
Garcia had led Toulouse to their first-ever Champions League appearance in 2007.
Then something interesting happened: they faced Liverpool in the Champions League, losing 0-1 at home and 0-4 away. But Garcia said that Benítez, Liverpool's coach at the time, had sent someone to lurk in Toulouse a week before the match to spy on their training.
It was Casanova, then the assistant coach and now head coach, who discovered that person.
Garcia even made a sarcastic comment about Benítez: "This shows Benítez's professional spirit. He always prepares for every match meticulously. We're very flattered, at least I've never encountered such a situation."
Casanova had led Toulouse from 2008 until now, with results steadily improving, it was quite decent in general.
In this situation, he ultimately chose the safe approach.
"Hey, Didot!!"
Casanova called out the name of winger Didot, waving for him to drop back a bit. This was also a signal to the forward players to retreat defensively as a whole.
Focus on defending Julien's side.
Other players could use zonal defense, with Bastia's condition tonight, there was no problem.
Facts proved this to be true. Even after conceding some possession, Bastia didn't create good attacking opportunities.
Bastia's current attack mainly relied on Julien and De Bruyne.
Usually, the two would each pull the opponent's defense, creating space for each other, but tonight De Bruyne's form was clearly off.
And when Julien got the ball, he was surrounded by three people.
It became very difficult.
Time ticked away minute by minute.
After the initial passion from Julien's goal upon entering, Bastia fans fell silent again, though their eyes still sparkled with hope.
The night grew deeper and the temperature lower. But the sweat on Julien's body increased, and the stains on his jersey became more obvious.
Good thing it was blue—if it had been white, it would already be grass-green and earth-brown by now.
"Huff."
Julien took advantage of moments without the ball to rest slightly. The continuous high-intensity attempts to break through rapidly drained his stamina.
Toulouse's right defensive side had truly gone all-in: there were three people in the first defensive line, with others ready to provide backup from behind.
They simply wouldn't give Julien any space.
In the 83rd minute, Hadzibegic made another substitution, making a final push. He took off Palmieri and Choplin, brought on Mané and Clauss, and moved Angoula back to center-back.
After this change, Bastia's attack strengthened slightly.
But Toulouse had already taken off two forwards around the seventieth minute, replacing them with two midfielders to fully strengthen their defensive intensity.
Hadzibegic looked at the scoreboard time, his heart was sinking bit by bit just like the Bastia fans.
Julien worked hard on the pitch looking for opportunities, but Didot and Mbengue were like plasters adhesive, constantly sticking to him, with the retreating Tabanou nearby as well.
Bang!
Rothen passed the ball to Julien's feet. Now Bastia's attacking organization was somewhat chaotic, they couldn't organize in the final third.
Some fans called this De Bruyne's disaster-level performance, the worst match since joining Bastia.
But more people said, "He's too tired."
Indeed, he was very tired.
After seventy minutes, De Bruyne barely ran anymore. So now the team could only rely on Julien.
Julien received the ball. The three surrounded him again. Actually, through repeated attempts, Julien was constantly analyzing possible opportunities.
And this time, he had help.
Julien held the ball, suddenly accelerated, drawing Didot and Tabanou to follow, then with a clever flick of his heel, he knocked the ball to the wing for the overlapping Clauss.
After receiving the ball, Clauss quickly pushed forward. Clauss was a variable in Toulouse's defensive targets. In the previous attacks, Clauss hadn't shown much threat, so Toulouse's defense on him was relatively weak.
Clauss's speed wasn't slow, and Mbengue didn't follow immediately.
This allowed Clauss to rush to the front of the defensive line.
Clauss immediately scanned the center. This kind of cross was very dangerous.
Toulouse players realized this too and quickly followed up, especially blocking Lukaku's position. The advancing Rothen was also marked.
Clauss instantly understood the current situation. But there was still a chance!
Julien!
Clauss suddenly feinted, not only fooling the charging Mbengue but also the other Toulouse players.
Bang!
Clauss passed back into the box. Julien had already rushed inside after passing, arriving perfectly.
The moment Julien received the ball, players around him immediately closed in.
At this moment, from the broadcast angle, you could see five purple jerseys surrounding one lone blue!
1 vs 5!
After receiving with his right foot, Julien knew he had no room for adjustment, so he just pushed it with his right foot toward his comfortable left foot.
Defensive players completely blocked his view.
But he had shooting enhancement!
Bang!
His body leaning, his left foot exerted maximum effort to curve the ball, and the ball rose from the ground.
Aurier had already reacted as best he could, trying to head it.
But the ball's arc perfectly evaded him, heading straight for the net.
Goalkeeper Ali Ahamada had no idea Julien had shot. After all, from his perspective, just like Julien's view of the goal, everything was blocked.
When he heard the sound of the kick and saw the ball flying over, Ahamada quickly pushed off and dove, but unfortunately, Julien's shot was very fast and the ball went to the far corner.
Even with his fastest reaction, he couldn't keep up!
Swish!
That beautiful sound rang out.
2-2.
In the first minute of stoppage time, Julien scored a brace, and Bastia had equalized against Toulouse.
Julien pumped his fist hard.
There was a sense of liberating release on his face, but he still didn't celebrate. There were three minutes of stoppage time, perhaps there could still be a miracle?
He rushed into the goal again, grabbed the ball, and ran toward the center circle.
His teammates all ran with him toward the center circle, high-fiving each other along the way in celebration.
On the sideline,
"Ahhhhhh!"
Hadzibegic couldn't help but roar. The pressure in his heart was also very great, and this shout was equally a release of his emotions.
Casanova rubbed his bald head and shook it helplessly.
The three points within grasp, just lost like that.
"Sigh~"
A long sigh, and at the same time he quickly signaled his players to waste time.
Bastia fans felt their hearts surge with excitement, blood rushing to their heads, but they suppressed it all.
There were still two minutes left. Everyone was anticipating whether there would be another miracle.
Even the commentator, after excitedly celebrating the goal, talked about Bastia perhaps still having a chance for a winner.
But as time passed, Bastia fans returned to reality.
There was no miracle.
Beep!!
With the referee's whistle, the score was fixed at 2-2.
Even without the winner, Bastia fans still couldn't contain their joy the moment the match ended.
They knew how difficult this match had been.
They also knew what the team was facing.
How many teams collapsed during long seasons, how many talented players became exhausted and injured under congested schedules.
To draw away while playing every three days, Bastia had done extremely well.
The match was over.
Bastia players hugged each other. When Julien high-fived De Bruyne, KDB was so exhausted he couldn't say a word.
He just shrugged. He was equally dissatisfied with his performance this match.
Julien hugged him. "The league is far from over. Remember what we said in the locker room."
De Bruyne nodded.
"A long league season is like a marathon. The ultimate winner isn't the one who runs fastest at any particular stage, but the one who runs fastest throughout the entire race."
After the match, Hadzibegic didn't have his previous high spirits. The content of his remarks was the same, but the tone was different.
"This match was very difficult and proves once again that we're just a relegation-fighting team. We can't aim too high. We need to make more detailed plans to ensure each player's playing time. My players are very tired. This is the responsibility of our entire coaching staff. I've let them down, and I've let the fans down."
Rothen, who attended alongside him, wouldn't accept this. He said, "This is football. Pressure always exists. No match is any one person's or any one group's responsibility. The match belongs to all of us!"
Finally, Rothen talked about Julien's brace: "This was the only warmth for Bastia on this winter night."
On the other side, Casanova praised Bastia highly. "Bastia was very tenacious. They left a deep impression on me, especially De Rocca. He's the most talented wing player among French players in my opinion. Both of Bastia's goals this match came from him. It was very incredible.
I know that after this match, Bastia will become second in Ligue 1, but in my heart, they're a team on par with Paris, even more admirable than Paris. If I remember correctly, Paris's squad spent nearly 300 million euros over three transfer windows, while Bastia was still in Ligue 2 two seasons ago. Their entire squad didn't have a single player worth over a million euros.
Now they've reached second place in Ligue 1. It's very remarkable. I wish them the results they want at the end of the season."
Casanova's words were very magnanimous.
As for Paris, Bastia now viewed them as their only opponent.
Bastia returned to Corsica with a draw.
They now trailed PSG by one point.
Throughout Bastia, everyone's emotions were very high, their fighting spirit was full.
They would win it back!
If they hadn't tasted being first, perhaps Bastia's players and fans both could have accepted second place. After all, that was a Champions League spot.
But now, having tasted what it was like to be on top, there was no going back.
Fortunately, after experiencing this match with Toulouse, Hadzibegic had learned his lesson and completely changed his approach.
He must give core players rotation and rest time.
This was his primary consideration when arranging lineups now. He had discussed this with Chataigner, and both were clear regarding rotations.
Chataigner also revealed to Hadzibegic, "Hang in there. Get through these last three matches before Christmas, and we'll have reinforcements in the winter window, specifically strengthening the back line."
Hearing this, Hadzibegic felt more confident.
On the 13th, Bastia hosted Lorient at home.
This time Hadzibegic put De Bruyne on the bench, using a 4-4-2 formation with Rothen pushed up to the midfield organizing position.
Although it was at home, and facing Lorient who had been in poor form this season, Bastia still used counter-attacking tactics. They were pragmatic now, not concerned about aesthetics.
This approach allowed them to take all three points relatively economically with a 2-1 victory.
Lukaku scored a brace.
And both assists came from Julien.
When Julien came off in the sixtieth minute of the second half, Hadzibegic brought on De Bruyne to play the final half hour.
Bastia's match was a day before Paris's.
So, they were temporarily first.
The next day, with all of Bastia eagerly anticipating, PSG played to a draw!
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