Countless French fans were electrified with joy and excitement.
The France of today was far removed from the powerful squad that had dominated at the turn of the century. In the latest FIFA national team rankings, France currently sat at a humbling seventeenth position.
This ranking represented a recent improvement after some decent results—previously, they had languished even lower at around twentieth place or worse.
Therefore, when France was drawn into the same group as world number one Spain, French fans across the country collectively cried out in despair, calling it the Group of Death.
"We'll be lucky if we can secure a playoff spot," one fan wrote online.
"Let's just hope Spain doesn't completely destroy us," another added with resignation.
No one could have predicted what would actually unfold. Not only did France avoid falling behind, they advanced with a perfect record, leaving the World Cup favorites Spain trailing in their wake.
This unexpected gift, this improbable triumph that no one dared hope for, caused French fans who had been suppressed and frustrated for so long to erupt in complete celebration.
As the captain who had carried the team forward through every crucial moment, Julien naturally became the focus point of everyone's praise and admiration.
On social media platforms, discussions about Julien had already dominated the feeds.
Fan comments were filled with excitement and recognition.
One supporter wrote: "When we got drawn with Spain in the same group, I was watching the live draw broadcast and nearly spilled my coffee all over my computer. Now looking back? Who even is Spain? We have Julien! Watching him break through on the right wing and drive all the way to the byline like he's just crossing the street—the Australian and Finnish defenders couldn't even catch up to him. And people still claim this is the core player of a team ranked seventeenth? He's clearly the world's number one striker!"
Another passionate fan chimed in,
"That 3-0 victory over Finland, when Julien scored with that outside-of-the-boot cushioned finish—I literally jumped out of my seat in the bar!
The guy sitting next to me clinked glasses with me and said this goal alone would be worth talking about for ten years. I think it's more than that. With Julien leading us, France really has a genuine chance at next year's World Cup!"
The parking lot at the Clairefontaine base stretched out in the afternoon light.
Teammates stood in small groups of twos and threes by their cars, jackets draped casually over their arms, hands holding half-finished bottles of mineral water. Their voices carried more softly now than they had during training sessions.
With the World Cup qualifiers concluded, the national team training camp had come to an end. The next time they would all gather together would be before next year's World Cup, during the warm-up friendlies leading up to the tournament.
Giroud stuffed his last training kit into the trunk of his car.
When he turned around, he saw Julien approaching with his black sports bag and immediately smiled as he walked forward to greet him. "Julien, go home and get some proper rest for a couple of days. Don't push yourself too hard in training at Liverpool!"
He patted Julien on the arm, his tone changed now to playful teasing. "Next time Arsenal plays Liverpool, go easy on us. I'm genuinely afraid of what you might do to our defense."
Julien smiled and nodded in response. "Same goes for you. Keep scoring those league goals—next year at the World Cup, we'll still need you to hold up the ball in the box and battle with opposing defenders."
The two men embraced briefly in a quick hug.
Not far away, Varane was helping Ribéry carry his luggage to the car. When Varane spotted Julien, he waved enthusiastically in his direction. "Remember to watch Real Madrid's matches when you get back home!"
Julien laughed and called back, "You also need to stop constantly thinking about recruiting me to Real Madrid. First focus on playing well in La Liga, and when you win the championship, I'll treat you to dinner!"
Varane raised his eyebrows with a playful expression. "I'm holding you to those words! If we win the title next year, we're definitely celebrating properly!"
When Ribéry walked over, he smiled at Julien with warmth and said, "Being young really is wonderful. Eight matches, sixteen goals—that's truly ferocious."
He patted Julien's shoulder with a firm hand. "When you get back, don't relax your standards. No matter how difficult the league becomes, you need to maintain your form and condition. Next year at the World Cup, the team will still need to rely on you heavily."
Julien nodded with complete seriousness. "Don't worry, I'll definitely prepare properly."
Just at that moment, Deschamps walked out from the office building. His gaze swept across the group of players before finally settling on Julien.
He didn't call out Julien's name or motion obviously—he simply gave him a meaningful look. Julien understood immediately and followed the coach to a quiet spot beneath the shade of nearby trees.
The wind rustled through the leaves above them with a soft whisper, providing just enough ambient noise to cover their conversation from any curious ears.
"Over these last few qualifying rounds, your performances on the wing have already reached world-class levels," Deschamps began, his voice was quieter than usual.
"But when you return home, I want you to find some match footage to study. Look at players who can link up the entire team, versatile attacking players who can operate both wide and centrally—like Zinedine in his prime, or current superstars who can unlock attacks through the middle. Study how they observe and read the rhythm of the match, how they connect their teammates' movements and runs into organized attacking patterns."
He paused consciously, his eyes were locking directly onto Julien's with intensity.
Each word that followed came slowly and with careful emphasis.
"Next year at the World Cup, our opponents won't be as easy to deal with as these qualifying teams. Germany, Brazil, Argentina—every single one of those teams has a defensive line that's extremely difficult to break down.
The team needs you to be more than just a goalscorer. We need you to become an attacking core who can tear open deadlocked situations. I want to see you truly shine on the world stage at the World Cup."
Julien nodded with complete attentiveness and sincerity. "I've got it. I'll start looking for footage to study as soon as I get back."
Deschamps patted him briefly on the back, said nothing more, and turned to walk toward the other players to say his farewells.
Julien remained standing beneath the shade of the trees, watching as his teammates gradually departed one by one. When Giroud's car passed by, he honked the horn once. Varane stuck his head out from the car window and waved vigorously. Ribéry gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up as he drove past.
The coolness in the wind seemed to lighten somewhat, becoming less biting.
As the team captain, Julien waited until every single person had left before finally saying goodbye to Deschamps and leaving together with N'Golo.
Kanté had remained as usual quiet and reserved throughout the entire camp. To the other players, he appeared to be simply Julien's loyal follower, content to stay in the background.
But now, as they walked past the oak groves of Clairefontaine, Kanté gazed at the trees with a hint of hopeful anticipation in his expression and asked Julien, "Do we have a real chance of winning the World Cup? The last time France won the championship, I wasn't even old enough to remember it."
Julien smiled warmly. "Then next time you'll need to celebrate properly and make sure you remember that day well."
"So, will we? Will we win?" Kanté pressed gently.
"Of course!" Julien replied without any hesitation.
"Thank you, Julien."
That evening, Julien returned to his home in Liverpool. He received a phone call from Steven. After answering, Gerrard immediately asked, "Have you seen the news?"
Julien was genuinely confused and honestly told him no, he hadn't.
"Then go online right now and look at the news about our club during this international break. After you've finished reading everything, call me back."
"Alright."
Julien felt curious about what could have happened. During this entire period, he had been completely focused on news related to French football and hadn't paid much attention to Liverpool's situation. He was also puzzled about why Stevie would specifically call him right as the international break was ending.
However, when he began searching online, he was instantly shocked by what he discovered.
"Liverpool Management in Complete Chaos: All Executives from the Hicks Era Completely Replaced!"
"Liverpool CEO Abdullah Speaks Candidly: Apart from Julien, No One's Position is Secure."
Julien never imagined that in just over a week, such dramatic events could unfold. Fortunately, the British newspaper The Daily Mail had compiled a detailed timeline explaining the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
The origin of the crisis was somewhat absurd and almost funny.
At a party hosted by Liverpool Football Club, the club's driver, a man named Sloane, had gotten into both a verbal argument and physical altercation with Liverpool executive Ian Ayre and several other club officials.
According to Sloane's version of events, the confrontation had been sparked when he was deliberately provoked by Ray Horne, Liverpool's player liaison officer, which caused him to completely lose his composure and self-control.
At that moment, with Ayre and numerous other guests watching, Sloane had loudly and publicly accused Horne of "robbing Liverpool Football Club in broad daylight.", shocking everyone present.
Simply because of this single confrontation at the party, Sloane was dismissed from his position by Liverpool the very next day.
Feeling deeply aggrieved and treated unjustly by his termination, Sloane subsequently took his case to a labor arbitration tribunal and filed a lawsuit against Liverpool Football Club.
This appeared initially to be nothing more than an unremarkable civil employment dispute between a worker and his former employer. However, it suddenly became a matter of intense public interest because of the explosive revelations that Sloane began making during the trial phase.
During the tribunal's evidence examination phase, Sloane publicly exposed Ray Horne's illegal ticket-selling operation, laying out the details for all to see.
Sloane had previously served as a police officer before being employed by Liverpool as a driver in July 2009. In his daily work routine, he was responsible for driving Liverpool's senior executives as well as several first-team players to their various appointments and commitments throughout the city.
Sloane testified that he had learned about the corruption from his close personal friend Frank Filbert. Filbert had also formerly been a police officer and now operated his own private security company. On match days at Anfield, Filbert and his team of colleagues were contracted to handle the stadium's security operations.
It was precisely because of this working relationship and access that Filbert had personally witnessed Horne engaging in the ticket-selling scheme.
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