Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

The Angers fans cheered for their goal.

Faruk Hadzibegic shook his head helplessly on the sideline, still believing that the penalty just awarded wasn't really a penalty.

But he had already received a yellow card for arguing with the referee and didn't want to earn another for this incident.

Three minutes earlier, Bastia's starting striker Azzouzi had scored on a cross from his teammate, capitalizing on the opportunity in the box.

But then Azzouzi immediately committed a controversial foul in the penalty area, giving the opposition a penalty kick.

Azzouzi cursed the opponent as a "hypocritical cheat" and a "diving frog."

He nearly came to blows with the opposing player.

The referee gave Azzouzi a yellow card warning, finally settling the dispute.

Fans watching the broadcast had different perspectives—some saw Azzouzi make contact with the attacking player, while others saw minimal contact followed by an exaggerated fall from the opponent.

But the result was 1-1.

Time was approaching the seventieth minute.

Hadzibegic was considering whether to bring on Julien, but he had some concerns. Looking at the players' condition on the field, the aftereffects of fatigue from the match against Lille were obvious.

The players' movements were half a beat slow, their steps heavy.

Moreover, the team doctor had told him this morning that Julien's muscle fatigue hadn't fully returned to normal levels.

Finally, Hadzibegic remembered what Châtaigner had told him about going further in the French Cup.

I was better to use Julien sparingly.

As long as the players stayed healthy, he could accept this draw.

However, the betting fans, seeing Bastia's obviously poor condition, panicked!

"Ah!! Bring on Julien! Why is Bastia pulling back into defensive formation? Are they playing for a draw?"

"No way! I went all in! This is a real all-in bet! Quickly bring on Julien to save me! The king of football! King Julien! Save me!"

"We were careless! Bastia has been drained by Lille. They probably won't bring on Julien in this match. He's only seventeen, the coach will definitely protect him. As long as they're not losing, they won't bring on Julien. An away point is completely acceptable for Bastia."

Bastia fans, seeing their team's condition, understood that the recent fixture congestion had left the players quite fatigued.

Today was only the 13th, but they had already played three matches this month.

The broadcast camera focused on Julien on the substitutes' bench. Julien sat in his training kit, showing no signs of warming up.

The commentator said, "Julien probably won't come on. Bastia's goal now is to take one point away from the Parc des Sports."

When the time reached seventy-five minutes, Hadzibegic began making substitutions. Under the expectant gaze of the betting fans, he brought on midfielders and defenders, substituting off Rothen and other players who had battled Lille for ninety minutes.

This dashed the betting fans' hopes once again.

Moulin saw the opportunity and kept signaling his players to intensify their attack, but Angers' attacking ability wasn't particularly strong.

They created chances but failed to capitalize on them.

If Lille had faced Bastia in today's condition, they probably would have demolished them in the previous match.

Beep!!

When stoppage time ended, the full match concluded.

1-1.

Both sides shook hands and settled for the draw.

After the match, reporters asked Hadzibegic if he was disappointed with the draw.

Hadzibegic seemed surprised, "Why would you ask such a question? I'm proud of my players. We took a point away from home! We're a newly promoted team, our biggest goal is to avoid relegation. Being able to get one point already exceeds our expectations—we're very satisfied."

"Why bring on Julien? He's just a 17-year-old kid. He was very tired after the last match and needs rest. Besides, he's still very young—the team's pressure shouldn't be placed on his shoulders."

Bastia fans were also relatively satisfied with this result. Now they were already looking forward to the last two league matches of the month.

Both at home! One against Troyes on the 20th, and another against Reims on the 26th.

Julien didn't enter the match, so he didn't even need to shower.

After Rothen finished showering, he felt much more relaxed. Seeing Julien, he complained, "The federation's fixture scheduling really doesn't treat us like human beings."

Julien agreed to his words.

Actually, France was still manageable—England's match schedule was truly dense. Playing every three days was commonplace there.

The next day, Hadzibegic unusually gave the team a day off, but Julien didn't rest and continued training.

He performed interval running of certain duration every day.

Physical fitness was too important in football. A fitness monster could make the team play as if they had an extra man.

While running, Julien thought about how once his fitness improved, aside from his attacking contributions, he would at least have sufficient stamina to track back defensively.

To become a modern winger, defensive tracking was essential.

When Julien finished training, he received a call from Pierre. "Juventus scouts want to chat with me?"

"Yes, they watched your entire performance in the French Cup match against Lille and think you could develop at Juventus," Pierre replied.

Julien thought for a moment and directly refused, "No, I don't need to contact any teams right now. My current form isn't stable. I need consistent playing time, not a big platform. When my ability improves, I'll naturally seek a transfer—this was already an understanding between Châtaigner and me."

"Alright. Also, someone from Clairefontaine contacted me, asking if you're available. The youth academy has an event that needs some former graduate players, plus some famous stars from our country, to go through the motions and give youth players some inspirational role models."

"No, I'm not available. I need to train. If I want to return to Paris, I'll let you know in advance."

Julien still refused.

Nothing should interfere with his training—improving his ability was the top priority.

However, when he thought this matter was over, Châtaigner also brought it up, saying Clairefontaine had invited him to participate in the event.

And Châtaigner shared news that surprised him.

"Zidane wants to meet me?" Julien was somewhat puzzled.

He didn't remember having any contact with Zidane.

Châtaigner explained, "Do you remember Elion? Chelsea's head scout for France—he introduced you to Zidane, and he's the one asking me to invite you to attend. Perhaps Chelsea still wants to sign you back? Or maybe Zidane simply wants to see his French youth prodigy?

Besides, you're already an outstanding Clairefontaine graduate, so being invited is quite reasonable. If you want to go, I'll go with you—at least Zidane and I were teammates and have some rapport. It's only two days and won't interfere with training and matches."

"Alright."