Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

Julien was stunned.

He still had a chance to play?

"Go quickly!"

Giroud flashed a brilliant smile, pushing Julien's shoulder to get him up quickly, even helping him remove the substitute's bib and handing him his jersey.

He was like the most considerate older brother.

Giroud was genuinely happy for Julien, even though his own European Championship debut was still uncertain.

Julien quickly sorted out his equipment and walked to the sideline.

Blanc put his arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Remember what I told you? Use your attacking ability, be bold and try things. Don't worry about losing the ball, just-just try, you must try."

Blanc kept repeating "essayer" (try).

Julien nodded firmly.

Meanwhile, the broadcast camera focused on Julien at the sideline.

The French TF1 commentator couldn't contain his excitement at this moment: "Oh, what do I see? It's De Rocca! This is the most surprising player from the just-concluded Ligue 2 season, and now he's standing beside Blanc, waiting to enter the game.

When he steps onto the pitch, he will break the record previously set by Just Fontaine in 1953—youngest player to debut in an official match for the French national team. Fontaine was 18 years and 5 months old at the time.

And Julien is only 17 years and 196 days old today!"

"De Rocca!!"

"Here he comes, Julien is coming!!"

When the camera focused on Julien, with the Mediterranean evening breeze stirring, Bastia erupted in fervent heat, the emotions of the Bastia people were burning.

A familiar figure in an unfamiliar jersey.

Just standing there, Julien already represented everything Bastia fans were most proud of.

How long had it been since Bastia produced an international player? Who was the last one? Now, even if it was just appearing in garbage time at the end of the match, it was still an appearance!

This was the European Championship!

Any player who could stand on this field was already among the finest footballers in their respective countries.

At the Sunset Café Bar, Bastia fans who didn't have the time or financial means to travel to Ukraine raised their glasses, toasting Julien's debut.

They were also celebrating Julien creating another new record!

"This is De Rocca, a legendary name that will never be erased from Bastia's history."

In present-day Bastia, Julien's popularity had already reached its peak.

The double crown parade and the broadcast of the documentary "Road to Championship" had made almost all 100,000 Bastia residents know the name "Julien De Rocca" and the meaning behind it.

Tweet!

When the ball went out of play, the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the sideline.

France substitution in the 88th minute.

Off came number 6 Cabaye, on came number 19 De Rocca.

Cabaye walked off slowly, waving to the fans in the stands.

Julien habitually tapped his toes against the touchline.

This habit, brought from the gravel pitch in Bird Spring Town, he continued onto the European Championship stage.

But he was no longer doing it to shake off gravel. This was simply one of his life's anchor points.

Just as tonight he donned the French national team jersey, countless future national team days and nights would all begin from here.

Many fans from the Corsican region applauded wildly for Julien.

Julien was their pride. However, everyone knew that at this point in the game, this was just Blanc giving a young player some garbage time experience.

Giving Julien a chance to play. Julien's stage wasn't tonight—his stage was in the future. But the fans were still ecstatic.

A historic moment was about to be born!

As the lights came on and the stadium blazed bright as day, the fans' cheers made Julien momentarily dazed.

Cabaye came off the field and hugged Julien. "Go get them, kid."

Julien snapped back to reality. He nodded and stepped onto the green field.

"De Rocca!! The youngest player in French team history!!"

The commentator's words emphasized his age.

Just like the fans, many people believed the future belonged to Julien.

In the stands, Zidane, Deschamps, Le Guen, Mbappé, Monbaert, Wenger, Kanté, Mané, and Varane all smiled when they saw Julien enter the game.

Mbappé was even more dramatic.

He shouted to Wilfried and the others, "My God! Julien has broken Fontaine's record!"

Fontaine's status in French fans' hearts needed no explanation.

Wilfried smiled. "Maybe you can work harder and break Julien's record in the future."

Mbappé showed a look of yearning at that moment, asking himself internally, "Can I, do it?"

In his heart, Julien was an idol and a mentor, but more like a guide who had opened a window to the sky for him.

It was Julien who showed Mbappé what true genius looked like.

At the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, after Julien entered the game, he quickly ran to the right-wing position which was his most familiar position.

Blanc also gestured to Nasri, telling him to drop back and fill the space left by Cabaye's departure.

Nasri wasn't as excited about Julien's appearance as the others.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have said that some people got into the national team through connections. Now, in his view, Julien's connections were indeed quite solid.

If it were normal circumstances, he would definitely be passive-aggressive about it.

But having scored today made him happy, so he let it slide.

In the first half, after scoring, he had made a "shut up" gesture toward England's bench, directly targeting England's assistant coach and Manchester United legend Gary Neville.

England's assistant coach and Daily Mail columnist Gary Neville had written before the match questioning Nasri's professional attitude, calling him "lacking consistency" and "not up to the task."

Nasri always repaid grudges, getting his sweet revenge. So, he couldn't be bothered with Julien's situation.

After all, in his view, what was the point of coming on for three or four minutes? Wasn't it just through certain connections that he got these few minutes of playing time?

Nasri even thought about passing to Julien to avoid media criticism about creating internal divisions.

Deep down, Nasri still hoped to lead the team further in the European Championship.

After all, this was also his chance to prove himself.

The media kept saying the current French team had no core and was too ordinary, at this time he wanted to step up.

So, in the 91st minute, when Nasri got the ball, he saw Julien in space on the right wing.

After hesitating, he turned and passed the ball toward Julien.

"De Rocca's first touch after coming on. My God! What is this?!"

The TF1 commentator was just routinely doing his commentary job, but suddenly he was stunned by Julien's action after touching the ball.

"Does he always play like this? Oh, sorry, it seems I need to study De Rocca's playing style properly. De Rocca has gotten past Henderson."

Whoosh!

The fans erupted in an instant roar of surprise.

Julien's adaptation to match tempo was much shorter than they had expected!

Receiving Nasri's pass, Julien didn't stop the ball but poked it forward with one touch, separating man and ball.

His triple-enhanced stamina exploded into speed, making Henderson, a midfielder not known for pace look utterly helpless, and was completely left behind.

Simple and brutal! Pure pace!

Those fans who had been booing both teams' players for ninety minutes and were already drowsy suddenly perked up.

"De Rocca!"

Bastia fans shouted Julien's name with all their might, just as they did at the Césari Stadium.

Julien in blue was their most familiar sight, whether in Bastia blue or France blue.

All eyes focused on Julien.

Having easily beaten Henderson, Julien sprinted toward the penalty area.

England's left-back Ashley Cole and left center-back Lescott quickly moved to cover.

The two converged, trying to stop Julien.

But Julien's pace didn't slow. He had just come on, his stamina was fresh!

When his speed reached its peak, he exploded again, burning everything, he had!

The boy in blue flashed past like wind, like lightning.

Ashley Cole and Lescott hadn't even completed their pincer movement before Julien used his pace to cut inside, directly facing goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Both defenders were shocked, this wasn't right!

This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

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