Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

That afternoon, Bastia held a pre-match press conference.

Regarding this match, Hadzibegic was extremely humble. "We're facing one of the best teams in Ligue 1. They won the French Cup last season, as well as the Ligue 1 championship."

"Against such opponents, all we can do is give our best effort in front of our home fans and try not to lose too badly."

"As for the result, I think everyone has expectations in their hearts."

"Julien has shown his ability, but he's still very young, and we must use him cautiously. Hazard has already proven himself as Ligue 1's best forward, so our defense will face tremendous pressure in this match."

If Julien hadn't known Hadzibegic's true thoughts, he might have really believed the team was giving up on this match.

But the truth was, regarding offense, Hadzibegic had spoken with him separately, while regarding defense, in the team's pre-match talk, he emphasized again and again: concede few goals, concede no goals!

Bastia fans had already begun anticipating this match the day before.

They were looking forward to their team's match against a Ligue 1 side, not necessarily the result.

At the press conference, Hadzibegic announced the squad.

Bertrand, owner of the Sunset Café Bar, even put up a large advertising board at the entrance!

"During the Bastia vs Lille match, every time Julien scores, drinks throughout the venue are discounted!

One goal: 10% off! Two goals: 20% off! And so on, maximum: entire venue free!!"

A fan joked, "Bertrand, aren't you afraid Julien will score five and bankrupt you?"

Bertrand, who knew many fans personally, laughed heartily. "Five goals? How's that enough? I'd prefer to give the entire venue free drinks!! If it really comes to free drinks, one day wouldn't be enough—I'd give you a whole week free!"

"Haha!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

While Bastia held their pre-match press conference, Lille also held theirs.

Rudi Garcia attended with Hazard.

Journalists immediately mentioned that Bastia had eliminated Valenciennes in the previous round, asking if Lille could avenge their neighbors.

Both Lille and Valenciennes were located in Nord department in northern France, with Lille as the capital and Valenciennes as the sub-capital.

Rudi Garcia replied, "We'll do our best to take victory back from Corsica. Our goal hasn't changed—we still want the double Crown."

Last season, Rudi Garcia brought Lille their first league championship in over 50 years. This championship trophy was very convincing, winning by 8 points ahead of second place.

This sent Lille fans into long celebration, as previously Lille had only 1 league championship trophy, from the distant year of 1954.

Lille was formed in 1944 from the merger of Olympique Lillois and SC Fives. Even counting both predecessor clubs, Lille only had 3 top-flight championships.

After Garcia's words were reported by the media, Lille fans actually weren't that confident.

Last season's historic double crown attracted attention from many European giants to the talents and unsung heroes in Lille's squad.

For a club like Lille, it was difficult to keep all these players. After talent drain, Lille would find it hard to replicate that season's success.

This season's league struggles and early exits from the Champions League and League Cup already indicated they could hardly return to last season's dominance.

Last season's superhuman performers Cabaye, Gervinho, and Moussa Sow had all left.

Of the three arrows, only Hazard remained.

Regarding Bastia's currently prominent Julien, Rudi Garcia said, "After seeing Eden, I no longer see genius in anyone else."

Hazard, sitting beside him, felt somewhat embarrassed hearing his coach's words.

When interviewed, he also added, "We'll do everything to continue the team's glory from last season."

Lille's double crown last season naturally generated tremendous media attention in France.

Bastia also gained some reflected glory.

Because quite a few journalists were genuinely surprised when they saw Julien's statistics in Bastia's squad list.

Combined with Julien's story, it was extremely dramatic.

Before the match even began, Julien's name became known to even more French fans.

Match day, February 9th.

Elion rose early. He had arrived in Bastia yesterday, and this match held considerable interest for Chelsea.

Their former number 10 legend, Joe Cole, would likely appear in Lille's starting lineup.

Plus, Eden Hazard, the Belgian talent they planned to sign this summer window.

And then there was Bastia's Julien, also a talented youngster Chelsea had once rated highly.

The discarded one.

This match on the French island of Corsica was unexpectedly packed with Chelsea elements.

During breakfast, his assistant told Elion, "Leonardo, Juventus's head scout for France, wants to contact you. He says he wants to learn about Julien."

"Juventus?"

"Yes, probably because we once arranged his move to Chelsea, they think we know Julien better."

Elion was noncommittal.

Regarding the current attention Julien was receiving from various clubs, he was happy, but occasionally felt somewhat melancholy. He had first brought Julien to a higher platform but hadn't seen the best version of Julien.

Juventus? Perhaps that would be a decent destination too.

Elion said, "Then tell him we'll meet tomorrow. He'll definitely come watch tonight's match."

"Alright."

5 PM.

Two hours before kickoff.

Over ten thousand Bastia fans had already gathered around the Armand Cesari Stadium, wearing blue jerseys and cheering enthusiastically.

Singing fight songs.

"Fight!"

"Bastia!!"

This made some Lille fans who had come to the scene feel somewhat intimidated. They had always known Corsican teams played with hard edge, this match might not be so easy.

Bastia Training Base.

Hadzibegic delivered his final team motivation.

"Bastia wants no cowards! Double champions? So what?! Coming to Cesari Stadium, this is Bastia's home ground!!"

"Fight to the end!"

"Even if we lose, show our fighting spirit—lose standing up!"

Finally, Hadzibegic shouted, "Fight!"

The players roared back, "Bastia!!"

"Let's go!"

The players boarded the team bus.

Julien sat with Rothen.

Rothen turned to Julien and said, "The team's attack depends on you."

Julien nodded, gazing out the window.

As the bus drove toward Armand Cesari Stadium, fans lined both sides of the road, cheering continuously.

Everywhere the eye could see was a surging blue ocean.

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