Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

"Julien!!"

The moment the goal went in, over a thousand Bastia fans roared Julien's name with all their might.

Arms were raised high, and they started celebrating wildly.

After attacking fiercely for over seventy minutes, they had finally scored!

Julien ran off the pitch, facing the home stand next to the away section, placing his right index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

This naturally drew another round of fierce boos from Monaco fans.

Nearby Bastia fans immediately countered Monaco's boos with cheers, both sets of fans roaring madly.

In this small football stadium, one goal was enough to drive tens of thousands crazy.

But regardless, Bastia had taken the lead!

Teammates surrounded Julien, everyone's face beaming with excitement.

Dominique on the sideline was already embracing others.

In the stands, Hadzibegic and Châtaigner joined the Bastia fans in wild celebration.

In this moment, they weren't head coach or sporting director—they were just ordinary fans.

Cheering and celebrating their team's goal!

"Julien! This is the significance of Bastia bringing on Julien! In this kind of close-quarters ball handling, only Julien in the entire Bastia squad could complete it! He has once again proven to all Bastia fans with his goal that ambition knows no age—he's young, but he can score!! This match..."

The commentator's words were drowned in the sea of cheers at the Sunset Coffee Bar.

Though Bastia didn't have a large population. The proportion of fans was huge.

After the thousand-plus who went to the away match left, the tavern was still packed, with crowd control needed.

Many fans wore Julien's number 29 jersey.

"We're going back to Ligue 1! We're going to win the Ligue 2 title!!"

In the crowd, many shouted about the championship.

No one objected. This was everyone's wish.

Glass after glass of alcohol went down, the atmosphere becoming even more intense.

Water spilled everywhere.

Sitting in the coaching area, Marco squeezed his water bottle until it creaked, then violently threw it to the ground.

His assistant quietly handed him another bottle.

Marco opened it, took two sips, then tossed it aside. Water couldn't quench his burning anxiety.

This goal made him restless.

He stood up and walked to the sideline: "Defend! Keep defending! Look for counter-attacking opportunities!"

Marco still felt they should focus on defense.

Due to financial problems, the current squad's quality was too poor. He had wanted to strengthen in the winter window, having the team buy some quality defenders from Italy.

But the team had no money.

Bastia's celebration lasted nearly a minute, with the commentator continuously praising Julien.

In the gamblers special forum, the comment section was filled with: "Haters, speak up! Those who questioned Julien, apologize!"

"This is the real guiding light! I've decided—whenever there's a match with Julien, I'm betting blindly!"

"Then you better bet on Bastia next match too, (¬‿¬), (¬‿¬)."

"Haha, next match Bastia vs Lille, guaranteed loss."

"Damn, I just went all-in on a draw!"

Beep!

The match continued.

After Monaco kicked off, they tried to attack, but clearly, Marco's attacking coaching was terrible.

He had almost no ideas about attacking tactics, with most of his offensive strategies coming from his playing career.

But how could this batch of Monaco players compare to his abilities?

So, Marco's attacking tactics never worked out.

Since he took over this season, Monaco averaged only 1.1 goals per game, ranking tenth in Ligue 2.

Poor attacking ability was the main reason for Monaco's poor record.

But the team currently had no ability to bring in reinforcements.

Everything depended on whether the Russian consortium would inject capital into the team.

Monaco's attack was ineffective.

Possession quickly returned to Bastia. After Julien's performance, Monaco's defense on him became even tighter.

And they fouled repeatedly.

Julien won three or four free-kick opportunities for the team, but Maolida had used all his energy battling opposing defenders this match, with heavy consumption, and simply didn't bring his shooting boots.

He became the player who missed the most golden chances in the entire match.

Seeing Monaco's increasingly rough defensive actions against Julien, Dominique quickly told him to hold the ball less, fearing Julien would get injured by the opposition.

At the same time, he made substitutions, having the team maintain possession and preserve their one-goal lead until the end.

Bastia stopped their fierce attack, giving Monaco some opportunities.

However, their forwards were equally eye-watering.

This angered Marco, the former AC Milan heartthrob, who lost all composure.

Some veteran gamblers couldn't help saying, "Look what the once graceful Marco has been driven to. The players may be poor, but Marco's coaching ability isn't great either. He should stop coaching—he'll erase all the good impressions from his playing days."

Finally, when the referee's final whistle sounded, the match ended Monaco 0-1 Bastia.

Julien scored the only goal of the match.

He became the target of wild chanting from Bastia fans during the post-match player appreciation.

"Julien!"

"Julien!!"

Marco, accepting a quick post-match interview in the media area, also heard this commotion.

The reporter happened to ask him about this player Julien.

He said, "Julien is a very talented player. I suggest he could go to Milan if he has the chance. Perhaps he'll fall in love with Milan and join AC Milan, becoming a legend there."

Some Milan fans who saw this interview broadcast recorded the video and posted it on Milan forums.

The thread title: "After all these years, Marco still can't forget AC Milan."

This thread quickly got replies from Milan fans.

"Ah? My former heartthrob, how did he become so haggard? It's so Heartbreaking. Stop coaching, wouldn't retirement be better?"

"Marco can be said to be truly loyal to AC Milan. When he left Milan, he said 'Please send me to a foreign league because I can't face my former comrades on the pitch.' Seeing him now truly brings tears."

"He truly loves Milan. I remember when he left Milan for Paris, French L'Équipe interviewed him and asked him to predict who could win Ligue 1, and he casually said AC Milan."

"Who is Julien? If Marco thinks he could come to Milan, we could observe him."

"Forget it, what good players could Ligue 2 have? And how could Allegri have time to develop youngsters? We won the championship last season, this season we need to keep charging! Seedorf and Nesta almost left, we are barely keeping them—we need to charge while this batch of players still has fuel."

"Checked Julien's info, not bad, a wonderkid, only 17. If we really could buy him, we could get him and loan him out for gradual development. There's definitely no way for the first team."

"Marco actually became a coach?"

The Milan forum thread had many replies, but no one gave Julien much attention—most fans focused on Marco.

After the match against Monaco.

Julien saw the victory points update, and what surprised him was that he actually got 35 points this time!

Nearly half more than the last match against Clermont.

But he only scored one goal this match.

Julien thought about it and figured it was due to high overall rating—things like goal difficulty, impact, etc.

After all, Monaco was a traditional Ligue 1 powerhouse, incomparable to Clermont, who had never even entered Ligue 1.

105 victory points!

Julien's face showed a smile—finally enough.

He didn't hesitate!

Exchange!

[Exchange successful!]

[Victory points -100]

[Obtained: Victory Chest x1]