Novaes seed to have lost all confidence after making that one mistake.
Saint-Étienne pressed forward half-heartedly in their attacking third, and when Novaes tried to pass the ball to Kanté, his pass was too weak.
Aubayang, with his lightning speed, intercepted the ball before anyone else could react.
A breakaway opportunity!
Novaes tried to redeem himself by rushing out to block, but Aubayang was too fast.
After taking one stride across, he shot. Novaes couldn't catch up at all. He could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the back of the net!
In just five minutes, Bastia had gone from equalizing the score to conceding two more goals.
They watched Aubayang complete his hat trick!
Aubayang celebrated with a series of backflips right there in the away stadium.
Cohade and Gradel rushed over to embrace and celebrate with Aubayang. To score a hat trick away from ho with less than twenty minutes remaining and a two-goal lead—they could practically taste those three points already.
The Saint-Étienne players were ecstatic, and the few hundred Saint-Étienne fans in the stands were equally excited, cheering wildly from their section.
On the sidelines, after a brief celebration, Galtier's expression turned stone-cold, looking like a man facing defeat as he shouted at his players to focus on defense.
Hadzibegic watched Novaes make one "superstar-level" blunder after another in such a short span of ti, and he was completely stunned.
The club had allocated zero budget for the goalkeeper position during the sumr transfer window.
He had thought Novaes could hold his own. But now it was clear that the goalkeeper had beco Bastia's weakest link.
Hadzibegic shook his head helplessly.
Even Deschamps and Zidane felt sorry for Novaes's performance, this kind of display was complete career suicide.
One mistake could be understood.
But a series of consecutive errors? He should basically be substituted.
Zidane felt quite helpless. If Bastia's defensive lineup were just a bit more solid, they would certainly have the ability to reach the Europa League quarterfinals, even the semifinals.
But looking at it now, it seed difficult.
Unless Bastia's attacking players all went on a collective rampage.
In the stands, Chataigner spoke helplessly to the grim-faced Geronimi, "President, as you can see, the attacking players we've brought in are absolutely worth the money we spent, but we really had no funds left for the goalkeeper position."
Geronimi remained relatively rational.
He looked at Chataigner. "What do you plan to do? How much money do we need?"
Chataigner shook his head. "I don't have any concrete ideas at the mont. The team's goalkeeper coach, Antonio Costa, recomnded a Benfica youth goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, but he's quite young and I'm afraid he can't handle the pressure. So, I'd prefer to sign Lille's 33-year-old veteran, Landry, on a free transfer in December."
"Landry." Geronimi nodded slightly. "He's been called up to the national team, right?"
"Yes, he has, but always as a backup goalkeeper. He didn't play much—over about ten years, maybe ten matches? I'm not sure exactly."
"Study it carefully and report back to with the details later. We'll make the decision together."
"Alright."
On the field.
Julien walked over to Novaes, patted his shoulder, and consoled him. "Hey, relax. This is all of our first ti playing in Ligue 1. Don't be so nervous."
Novaes was filled with self-reproach. "I'm sorry, I've ruined the team's efforts. I..."
His first-half mistake had already left him guilt-ridden. Now, after these five dark minutes, the nearly 30-year-old goalkeeper was on the verge of tears as he spoke.
Rothen, Choplin, and other teammates also ca over to comfort Novaes.
Although everyone was angry and frustrated with the result, they were a team. At tis like this, it wasn't about bla, it was about finding ways to make up for it.
Julien said, "We'll just score back the goals we conceded. We're a team, and you need to pull yourself together! We all know how excellent you are. You've co with the team from the National Championship to Ligue 1—do you really want to fall behind when we're pushing for greater honors? Like I said, relax. Just treat this match like you're playing in Ligue 2."
"Okay."
Novaes's mood improved slightly.
Julien patted his shoulder. Then he turned to his other teammates and said, "Co on, we still have ti. Since it's co to this, let's attack. Push forward more and watch my runs."
The Bastia players all nodded.
On the way back to the center circle.
Rothen said to Julien, "I've noticed you're becoming more and more like captain material."
Julien smiled slightly in response.
The match continued.
Seeing his team take a two-goal lead again with 20 minutes still to play, Galtier instructed his players to defend deep.
Even the two wingers had to drop back to defend.
Only Aubayang was left up front as a counter-attacking outlet, waiting for the chance to break.
This match had brought Aubayang's league goal tally to five, shooting him straight to the top of Ligue 1's current scoring chart.
Right behind him was Julien with four goals.
De Bruyne's face was stern, his entire focus on the pitch. The ridiculous mistakes from his teammate that led to conceding goals by such a large margin left him in a very bad mood.
So, he played with anger.
When he was dribbling forward and the opposing defense kicked the ball out for a throw-in, then delayed his restart, his ntality exploded. He gestured angrily at his opponent, "rde! What are you doing?!"
Hamouma shrugged and lifted his chin at De Bruyne, "What, want to fight? Co and try it."
Seeing trouble brewing, Julien quickly rushed over and grabbed De Bruyne. "Don't waste ti, don't get anxious. Give the ball more!"
Julien knew there was really no other way at this point. The opposition had set up a complete defensive block.
All he could do was keep attempting breakthroughs and drawing fouls.
Just before they conceded, his multiple breakthrough attempts had all resulted in opposition fouls, and free kicks were also opportunities!
Hadzibegic on the sidelines shouted toward Julien while pressing his hands downward.
Stay calm.
But De Bruyne couldn't calm down.
The ball still hadn't been taken.
Bastia made a substitution.
On the sidelines, Mané waited to co on.
Hadzibegic placed his hand on Mané's shoulder, "The left flank is very vulnerable. Use every thod possible to get the ball into the penalty area. You can pass, you can shoot if you get the chance, and you can even look for a penalty..."
Palmieri ca off and embraced Mané.
"Go for it."
Seeing Mané, Julien thought: I hope he can make an impact.
The left side desperately needed to strengthen their attack now.
Otherwise, the right side's defense was too dense.
Tweet!
The match continued.
After Bastia's throw-in, Julien got the ball, but as soon as he touched it, two players were in front of him with another ready to provide backup defense from behind.
He tried to force his way through. Facing the sa treatnt as Maradona and other superstars, he gave up and passed the ball back.
Saint-Étienne's overall defense was basically focused on the right side, and the newly substituted Mané got his first touch.
His mind was full of Hadzibegic's instructions.
Look for a penalty!
Using his speed on the left flank, he imdiately beat Hamouma.
Hamouma was stunned—this new kid was so fast?!
He couldn't keep up at all.
Right-back Clerc positioned himself to block Mané's attacking route.
Mané had no fancy skills; he just pushed the ball forward as he approached.
A nutg, using pace and power!
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