"Nique ta mère!"
"Merde!"
At this moment, Valenciennes fans couldn't contain their emotions, cursing densely with endless swearword.
As Maolida rushed to the sideline to celebrate, various debris rained down from the stands—cups, cola bottles.
Security couldn't hold them back.
The stands were in complete chaos.
The entire sideline was covered in trash.
But this didn't affect Bastia's celebration at all. Maolida even pointed to the Bastia crest on his chest toward the Valenciennes fans in the stands, giving them an international friendly gesture for good measure.
"T'es con!"
"Fils de pute!"
The stands erupted in fierce verbal retaliation, with many Valenciennes fans even wanting to climb over the barriers to have a physical confrontation with the Bastia players.
In the chaos, every Bastia player felt their blood boiling.
Just a few minutes left, and they had equalized!
Regardless of the final result, just playing like this against a Ligue 1 team was enough to make them proud.
Maolida hugged Julien tightly.
"Good buddy, brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! You're the team's hero!"
Others came over to hug Julien and ruffle his hair.
This match had made Bastia players completely accept Julien—at least he was truly threatening on the flank.
Both goals came from opportunities he created himself.
In the deafening curses echoing throughout Stade du Hainaut, Montanier's face was black as coal, his furrowed brow creating several deep creases.
'Held to a draw by a Ligue 2 team?'
If, like other Ligue 1 teams, they didn't take it seriously and fielded a rotated squad, drawing or losing wouldn't matter.
But they had fielded their full main squad!
In a congested league schedule, using the full main team and still being held to a draw, forced into extra time—even if they won, it would be a pointless addition to the players' burden. This was completely losing everything and becoming a pauper.
Montanier's assistant Armand quickly asked, "Should we consider extra time personnel? Let them warm up?"
'Extra time.'
Being forced to extra time by a Ligue 2 team made Montanier extremely uncomfortable, but this was reality.
"Let José and Lorio warm up."
After the assistant left, Montanier looked at Julien's figure with complex eyes. This player he had overlooked had become the culprit behind Valenciennes' predicament.
Not far from him.
Hajibegić was already celebrating excitedly with his assistant coaches and substitute players.
Equalized!
Whatever the final result, at least this goal preserved their hope!
Looking at Julien's figure, Hajibegić never expected that his already fading hope would be reignited by Julien.
Looking back at Julien with fresh eyes.
Hajibegić realized he might have been wrong. When Julien played seriously, his talent was indeed somewhat outrageous.
The key was he was only 17.
Right at the age for improvement—his current performance was far from his ceiling.
While Hajibegić could still think about all this, Châtaigner and Pierre's family in the stands had completely merged with the small number of Bastia fans, celebrating excitedly.
Elion, however, was unusually frowning.
Julien's performance was warming up.
He was considering the possibility of bringing Julien back to Chelsea.
But this had two difficulties: first, would Julien be willing to return? Current Chelsea had plenty of forwards, and with Hazard coming in the summer window, he'd struggle for first-team opportunities.
Second, would the club still want him? As they say, the power comes from the top—Julien had angered Abramovich, making him unwelcome at Chelsea.
Moreover, from Elion's perspective as a professional scout, Chelsea was no longer the best choice for Julien.
Current Julien needed a team where he could get stable playing time.
He needed matches.
Bastia wasn't a bad choice.
Julien's performance in this match was enough to make Bastia seriously consider giving him more time.
If Stade du Hainaut fans were just angry.
Then online, Gamblers were in complete despair.
"It's over, brothers! See you on the rooftop!"
"Damn Valenciennes! Are you worthy of your Ligue 1 status? Are you worthy of our money support?!"
"It's over, it's over!"
"Shit, who knew Valenciennes' first half was fake, second half they're letting shit in the ocean!"
"Brothers, is there a possibility that it's not Valenciennes being weak, but Bastia having something? This new kid Julien De Rocca seems pretty strong."
"I knew about him already. Two years ago, when he was still at Lille U16, his dribbling stats were incredible. Only later when he went to Chelsea, he disappeared into obscurity. Turns out he's at Bastia now. Looking at it now, the talent is still there—he'll probably have a chance to play Ligue 1 next season."
"Bright future, worth following."
"Hehe, I bet on Bastia to win outright. Give me some luck, if it flies, I accept!"
The French Cup commentator had now completely become Julien's admirer: "My God! This ball! Julien handled it perfectly—this is talent! Those few steps at his feet, there's no way to have them except being born with it.
Bastia only had two or three players in attack, yet Julien seized the opportunity. Considering his age, this season's Bastia promotion push has gained another fierce player. Next season, Julien has a great chance to play Ligue 1 with the team."
Tweet!!
After both teams' players were in position, the referee blew the whistle to continue the match.
The Valenciennes fans' cursing didn't stop.
The trash on the sidelines was still scattered there, with staff only clearing debris from the playing field.
Valenciennes players were somewhat panicked at this point.
The score change made them unable to calm down.
Montanier shouted to his players, "Cross! High balls!"
They no longer had time for ground combinations. Ninety minutes had passed, and the fourth official's board showed only three minutes.
Though Montanier knew it would likely go to extra time.
He still wanted to push for these final three minutes!
Beside him, Hajibegić was also somewhat nervous, loudly calling for players to watch their defensive positions and stay alert.
With only a semi-main starting lineup, if it really went to extra time, Hajibegić still had backup plans!
He wasn't afraid of extra time!
Boom! Boom boom!!
Valenciennes' attacks repeatedly crashed against Bastia's defensive line and goal, with multiple shots drawing gasps from the crowd.
But each time left them disappointed.
Playing like this against a Ligue 2 team, in their view, not winning was losing.
Julien now also retreated slightly, pressing the opponents to prevent them from comfortably passing back.
After a series of attacks, Valenciennes made an error.
Bastia midfielder Roton intercepted the ball.
"Hey! Run!"
Roton shouted.
Maolida gritted his teeth and persisted, while Julien quickly advanced down the flank.
Roton played a diagonal switch pass.
The ball flew toward Julien's side.
The pass was a bit heavy, but Julien stretched out his foot and still controlled it steadily.
His foot was like a magnet, firmly drawing the ball to him.
Then he smoothly pushed forward.
An explosive dribble!
Swoosh!
This scene made many home fans nervous.
They cursed all they wanted.
But they had to admit this kid really had something at his feet.
Everyone at Bastia nervously watched Julien—about a minute remained.
This could almost be called Bastia's final attack.
Julien's speed wasn't fast, but his dribbling rhythm was excellent, mixing fast and slow, thoroughly exhausting Matt who was tracking him.
Throughout the second half, in Julien's limited time on the ball, Matt had been completely outplayed!
This forced Gil to constantly cover for him.
At this point, both teams' players had basically no stamina left, all gritting their teeth and fighting.
Julien used his old trick.
Explosive dribble down the flank.
This time, not only Matt and Gil defended him, but Schmitz also came over to help.
Under this kind of pressure.
Julien remained very calm.
The ball at his feet seemed glued there, constantly shifting left and right, making Matt and Gil afraid to approach carelessly.
Afraid of being fooled by a feint.
But despite their caution, they still didn't anticipate that Julien wouldn't go outside this time.
After accelerating toward the outside for a few steps, he suddenly stopped and cut inside, once again nutmegging Gil to complete the inside cut.
He burst into the penalty area!
Schmitz was right in Julien's path, but Julien's footwork was very quick. Despite being 1.8 meters tall, he showed no clumsiness at all.
Shoulder drop, change of direction.
Schmitz's center of gravity was completely manipulated, watching as Julien was about to break past.
Schmitz thought he had tracked the ball and stretched out a foot.
However, after he stretched out his foot, his eyes froze, and a thought suddenly arose in his mind—it's over!
The next moment.
Julien's foot appeared in front of the ball, getting there first to flick it away, then Schmitz's foot directly collided with Julien.
"Ah!!"
Julien was already slightly tilted, and being hit like this, plus the pain in his calf, sent him tumbling to the ground.
Seeing this scene. All Valenciennes players' eyes widened in shock!
It's over!
Completely over!
Tweet!!
The whistle sounded, and everyone at Valenciennes' hearts sank to the bottom.