Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

The fans' support for Julien made other players envious.

Even jealous.

Reims midfielder Ghisolfi was one such player.

He was starting this match, and his primary task, besides organizing the midfield, was to help teammates mark Julien.

Seeing the familiar Stade Armand Césari filled with chants of Julien's name, a sour feeling rose from his heart.

These cheers should have belonged to him. But now he only occasionally received some boos, with most fans simply ignoring him.

Ghisolfi pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. Perhaps the fans thought his departure wasn't dignified enough.

He had left Bastia on a free transfer in the summer 2010 window, signing with Reims on a free.

At that time, Bastia had been relegated to the third tier that season.

So, he chose not to renew his contract.

Instead, he left on a free transfer, joining Ligue 2 side Reims.

As a young player, having personal ambitions was normal, right?

He couldn't spend his peak years struggling with the team in lower divisions, could he?

Who knew when Bastia would return to higher-level competition?

So, Bastia fans resented him for leaving during the club's lowest point, not even leaving behind a transfer fee.

But he felt he had done nothing wrong. Did he have no feelings for Bastia?

Of course he did!

He was from Corsica and had been developed through Bastia's youth system.

Not counting his youth years, he had played seven years in Bastia's first team alone.

From 18 to 25 years old—wasn't that emotion?

109 appearances, three goals and one assist.

Poor statistics, but he was mainly a defensive midfielder—attacking wasn't his forte.

Fournier had him starting this match for exactly this reason: to use his defense to contain Julien!

Ghisolfi looked toward Julien, who was waving to the fans.

His gaze burned with fighting spirit.

Soon, the players returned to the pitch after final preparations in the dressing room.

Beep!

With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.

Stade Armand Césari erupted in even louder cheers.

Both Bastia and Reims lined up in 4-3-3 formations, with Reims appearing quite cautious away from home.

Even though they kicked off, they didn't push forward in attack, instead waiting for Bastia to come and press.

But Bastia had already played four matches in February, leaving the players somewhat fatigued. To conserve energy, they didn't press high.

From the start, both sides played at a slow pace.

Hadzibegic and Fournier stood on the sidelines with stony expressions, lost in thought. Perhaps this kind of scene was expected by both managers.

Bang!

It wasn't until the tenth minute that the first shot came—Bastia's Rothen attempted a long-range effort from outside the box.

The ball flew into the stands.

Hadzibegic shook his head. Reims weren't giving much space in this match, being very cautious.

"Difficult to play," Hadzibegic muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, the gamblers were furious.

"God, please teach Julien how to play football! He was so fierce last match, but this match he's completely invisible from the start. He's just here to scam our money!"

"Why do I always go against Julien? When I don't bet on him, he goes on a rampage. When I do bet on him, he doesn't even start. This time I bet on him again, and he's invisible!"

"Quick, hedge with Reims! Or a draw!"

Julien indeed didn't have many opportunities.

His few touches in the early period weren't ideal, so he simply dropped deeper.

He received a pass from Rothen. After getting the ball, Julien instinctively made a feint, but Ghisolfi immediately pressed close, bumping into him.

Julien staggered two steps and passed the ball back.

His brow furrowed slightly.

Through Vincent, Julien had heard about Fournier's pre-match comments.

It seemed this was their method of containing him.

Julien didn't pay much attention, having mentally prepared for this level of defensive intensity. No team would allow a player to run riot on their flank.

Not defending would be the strange thing.

But as the match progressed, Julien realized it wasn't quite like that.

Julien's time on the ball increased.

The opposing number 24 midfielder Ghisolfi would approach with aggressive challenges whenever he had the ball, not even going for the ball—some actions were clearly aimed at the player.

Moreover, his trash talks never stopped.

"Hey, you Parisian, you want to get past here? Dream on."

"You look a bit frail."

"Soft player who only knows how to hide! Didn't your dad teach you how to play football?"

Julien wouldn't indulge him. When the two came close, Julien suddenly flicked the ball with his foot, then half-turned. As Ghisolfi followed up, Julien back-heeled the ball through his legs and spun around Ghisolfi's side.

He completed the escape.

But today Reims' right flank defense was indeed well-organized. After he escaped Ghisolfi, Reims fullback Tacalfred immediately rushed up to clear the ball out for a throw-in.

Julien turned and walked inward. Passing Ghisolfi, he said, "You're right, but you're easier to get past than a street."

"Merde! You won't score today, and you won't get any assists either. I'm watching you," Ghisolfi shot back.

While his teammates prepared for the throw-in, Julien didn't waste words, just kept repeating, "Right, right, but you're easier to get past than a street. Listen, in a moment I'll nutmeg you with an elastico, then cut inside and shoot. Remember that?"

Trash talking with him?

He was a veteran of online wars—without some skill, how could he defend his reputation?

"T'es con!" (You're an idiot!)

Julien automatically filtered out Ghisolfi's words. The guy only knew a few phrases anyway.

Soon, His teammate Sance threw the ball down the line to Rothen, who immediately pushed forward.

Julien followed up.

Ghisolfi seemed determined to mark him out of the game today—wherever Julien went during Bastia's attacking phases, he followed.

After a series of passes in Bastia's front third.

Finally, Julien found his chance, receiving the ball in the right half-space. Ghisolfi had been staying in front of him, and seeing Julien get the ball, immediately moved to close him down.

Julien watched his footwork.

He immediately dropped his shoulder in a feint to the right. Ghisolfi ignored the feint—he was going for the man. In his mind, as long as he stopped Julien the player, it didn't matter where the ball was.

After several physical duels, Julien had figured out his habits.

The rightward feint became a real movement when Ghisolfi didn't bite.

Julien stepped right.

Ghisolfi immediately went for Julien's standing foot, but Julien was a man of his word!

He suddenly flicked the ball left, stopping sharply to avoid Ghisolfi's challenge. As Ghisolfi continued forward, Julien knocked the ball right again before it had even settled.

His improved step frequency proved very useful here.

Ghisolfi simply couldn't keep up with Julien. His footwork became chaotic.

At this moment, he suddenly realized what Julien was doing—elastico!!

He's cutting inside!!

Ghisolfi couldn't worry about his unstable center of gravity and forced himself to turn toward Julien's inside, trying to get ahead and block him.

But Julien's foot speed was too quick!

Even when Ghisolfi reacted, Julien was still a step ahead, completing the cut inside.

Ghisolfi panicked and reached out to grab Julien's shirt.

However, his center of gravity was unstable at this moment, and his body hadn't fully turned around.

Julien simply pushed forward slightly.

Ghisolfi immediately lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.

Whoosh!

The Bastia fans in the stadium were stunned when they saw this scene!

He'd nutmegged Ghisolfi completely?!

After completing the cut inside, Julien saw the opposing defensive line was well-organized with no further opportunities, so he tried a long shot.

Clang!

The shot curled toward the near post, hitting the outside of the post and flying out for a goal kick.

Roar!!

The home fans erupted again—this was their best chance to score in the twenty minutes since kickoff.

Julien shook his head and tracked back.

Ghisolfi had gotten back to his feet by now. Julien gave him a contemptuous smile.

Ghisolfi's face darkened. He couldn't help but remember Julien's words, which made him furious.

But there was nothing he could do. Julien had indeed done exactly what he'd said, and nearly scored.

The Ligue 2 broadcast commentator, seeing this sequence from Julien, said. "If Bastia want to break the deadlock, they certainly need to rely on individual brilliance from their players. De Rocca is obviously an excellent catalyst. That moment when De Rocca sent Ghisolfi sprawling showcased his individual dribbling ability perfectly."

On the sideline.

Hadzibegic looked skyward in frustration when he saw Julien's shot hit the outside of the post.

Behind the substitute bench, Châtaigner also slapped his thigh in disappointment.

"What a shame if that had gone in!"

Though the Bastia fans didn't see a goal, they were still delighted—

"Good, good, good! Humiliate Ghisolfi like that, the ungrateful bastard. The club raised him for over ten years for nothing!"

"When the team was relegated, he was the first to leave, and he refused to renew his contract!"

"This kind of person only thinks about himself. From the year he delayed renewing his contract, I thought something was wrong. Sure enough, at the end of the season he left on a free transfer. He was only 20 when the team gave him a starting spot, using all their resources to develop him. In the end, this is what the club got!"

Fournier wasn't too bothered by Ghisolfi's mistake this time.

It was normal for a defender to be nutmegged by an attacker.

What he really wanted was for his team to create attacks. He could already see that Bastia's defensive line was far weaker than their attack.

So, he gestured to his players to slightly increase their attacking intensity.

After Reims stepped up their attacks.

Bastia immediately responded by dropping deeper defensively.

Hadzibegic showed no home team mentality whatsoever—he wanted pragmatic football.

After all, in his words, Bastia was just a promoted team whose goal was survival.

Reims didn't dare to fully commit forward either.

This ultimately led to few chances for either side in the first half, ending in a stalemate.

Julien's long shot remained the closest either side came to scoring.

During the halftime break.

In the dressing room, Hadzibegic continued emphasizing: "We must defend well. We can go without scoring, but we absolutely cannot concede!"

Fournier was telling his players roughly the same thing.

Both coaches were satisfied with the first half at least.

After reviewing the entire first half, the Ligue 2 commentator analyzed the possibilities for the second half. "For Reims, midfielder Kossingou organized the attack well, and forwards Girasse and Fauré both had decent chances. Reims will definitely continue with this approach in the second half."

"Bastia had relatively fewer chances. The coordination between their front players wasn't great. Rothen, despite not playing for a year, has maintained good form, but ultimately doesn't have the quality he showed at Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. Their attack relies entirely on De Rocca on the right wing.

De Rocca hit the post once—it was very unfortunate, but that wasn't really a chance, it was one he created himself. Perhaps in the second half, Bastia's opportunities will still come from De Rocca."

Fifteen minutes passed quickly.

The players soon returned to the pitch.

When taking the field, Ghisolfi still looked at Julien with hatred in his eyes.

Though he wasn't criticized by Fournier at halftime, he could sense a subtle change in how his teammates looked at him.

Moreover, passing through the tunnel, he endured too much mockery from Bastia fans.

Ghisolfi blamed all of this on Julien.

He was determined to make Julien pay!

Beep!

The second half began!

Bastia kicked off. When Julien received the ball on the wing, Ghisolfi appeared as usual.

Julien didn't hold the ball, but passed back to Rothen.

Bastia began circulating possession.

Calling it possession was generous—the players' technical ability wasn't nearly refined enough, with only Rothen managing some neat play.

But this was still effective.

It forced Reims players to come out and press, while Bastia passed and retreated.

Rothen suddenly played a sharp pass toward Maoulida's direction.

But Maoulida failed to capitalize on the chance.

The ball was intercepted.

Reims had increased their attacking intensity in the second half, forcing Bastia to constantly retreat.

Julien kept roaming, looking for opportunities.

But the right flank defense hadn't weakened at all.

Fournier really wanted to ensure he didn't score a single goal this match.

However, in the 52nd minute, Julien's eyes sharpened—the opportunity had come!

Bastia won the ball in their own half and launched it long toward the center. Maoulida controlled it and launched a counter-attack.

Julien quickly made a forward run on the wing.

And he cut diagonally toward the center—though he'd been playing on the right wing, he could also play centrally or as an attacking midfielder.

With Maoulida's rapid counter-attack, the ball was quickly brought to about eight or nine meters from the penalty area, with opposition defenders already closing in on Maoulida.

Julien's inside movement gave him some space, and his early run completely shook off Ghisolfi.

"Hey!"

Julien pointed ahead of himself.

Maoulida understood and played a through ball!

The defender immediately turned and chased desperately.

Julien received the ball at the penalty area line, took a touch forward to avoid Tacalfred's sliding tackle from the right, then another touch and cut to dodge the pursuing defender.

At the same time, he moved the ball to his stronger foot.

Bang!

Julien's thigh powered through as he unleashed a low drive!

The ball pierced through goalkeeper Agassa's goal.

Whoosh!

The entire stadium erupted!!