Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca Chapter 218: Chapter-218 Chance

Teammates rushed forward to embrace Julien, carefully avoiding his injured shoulder, their faces were filled by the excitent of the goal.

Julien remained calm. After a brief celebration, he called out to his teammates, "Co on, co on! There are still more than ten minutes left. We still have a chance!"

A draw.

For Bastia, this was actually an acceptable result, but having played this far into the match, no Bastia player would admit they didn't want to win.

During the group celebration, De Bruyne hadn't spoken to Julien. It wasn't until they were walking back to the center circle that De Bruyne said to Julien, "That goal was brilliant."

Julien smiled in response.

By this point in the match, Viktoria Plzen was already in their physical decline window, and Julien's spectacular goal had dealt a blow to their morale.

Horvath proved himself a worthy veteran with rich experience. As captain, he continuously clapped his hands toward his teammates. "This is just an equalizer—we haven't lost! There's still ti to score another goal. Pull yourselves together and stay focused."

He added, "When I played in Japan, I saw countless scenes of teams scoring two goals in stoppage ti, all kinds of last-minute winners and equalizers. Football is round—believe in yourselves!"

His teammates nodded in agreent.

On the sideline, Vrba called Limbersky over. "Mark Julien closely. Foul him when necessary—don't let him receive the ball so easily."

"Got it!"

Tweet!

The whistle blew, and play resud.

Bastia continued their deep defensive setup. As Viktoria Plzen's fitness declined among other factors, their attacking tempo began to slow.

Soon, Vrba made personnel changes, substituting two players at once. He took off Horava, whose performance had been subpar, and Duris, whose fitness had severely declined. He brought on two midfielders: Martin Zeman and Fillo, a product of Viktoria Plzen's own youth academy.

By removing one midfielder and one forward to bring on two midfielders, Vrba hoped to control the tempo. Whether they could score was secondary—they couldn't afford to concede again.

However, newly substituted Zeman imdiately made a crucial error. Perhaps still adjusting to the ga, he played a pass too short.

Kante spotted the opportunity and completed the interception.

After the ball reached De Bruyne, he played a diagonal long ball directly to Julien.

Julien controlled the ball with his left instep. Facing Limbersky's defense, he didn't waste any ti. He knocked the ball forward in one fluid motion.

Explosive.

Pure pace to beat Limbersky!

The Plzen fans gasped instinctively. In their eyes, Limbersky was their team's left-back stalwart, having perford well even in the Champions League.

This left-back, also a product of Plzen's youth academy, had even had a brief Premier League stint in 2005. The 22-year-old Limbersky had caught the eye of North London giants Tottenham, who loaned him for half a season.

Unfortunately, plagued by injuries, he never managed to make an appearance, and Tottenham returned him at season's end.

After returning to Plzen, his performances remained solid. During the sumr European Championships, Limbersky had represented the Czech national team in all three matches.

So, when Plzen fans saw Limbersky treated like a traffic cone by Julien—easily bypassed—they were stunned.

Many Plzen fans had no impression of Julien of any kind. At most, they'd heard through pre-match dia reports that their opponents' squad contained one very talented player, there was nothing more.

If Julien's earlier goal had given them recognition of his ball control ability, then now they had concrete understanding of his pace.

Julien charged forward.

In the center, Horvath and Cisovsky abandoned Lukaku to converge on Julien's position.

Bastia didn't have many players in attack.

Viktoria Plzen, with their heads-down chase and nurical advantage, managed to cobble together a defensive line.

Julien was known by fans for having faster dribbling speed than his running speed without the ball.

At this mont, Viktoria Plzen's players were experiencing this firsthand.

Julien rapidly cut inside with the ball.

Horvath and Cisovsky, rushing desperately, managed to arrive just in ti. The two positioned themselves one behind the other, attempting to stop Julien and force him toward the touchline.

They had studied Bastia—while Lukaku had the fra of a center-forward, he didn't compete for headers. So, they preferred to force Julien to pass.

But Julien didn't slow down or move toward the touchline. Instead, seeing the two converging on him, he dropped his left shoulder and surged forward.

Horvath imdiately moved to intercept, but how could the 37-year-old match Julien's footwork speed?

As Horvath retreated, Julien quickly cut the ball right toward Cisovsky's position.

Cisovsky held his position relatively well, but Julien had no intention of going through him—this was just to shake off Horvath!

Sure enough, as Julien cut the ball, Horvath hurried toward Cisovsky's position. This was the mont!

Julien suddenly accelerated, using Horvath to block Cisovsky's position. Horvath, at 37 years old and having played the entire match, couldn't keep pace with Julien after this back-and-forth movent.

This piece of skill was spectacular.

Even Vrba couldn't help but clench his fists and hold his breath. If Julien got through here, it was almost a direct run into the penalty area. The other center-back, Prochaska, was occupied by Lukaku and couldn't provide cover in ti.

However, just when everyone thought Julien would break through, Horvath used all his strength to grab Julien's shirt while simultaneously charging into him.

Caught mid-stride by this collision, Julien lost his balance and fell toward the ground.

As he fell, Julien instinctively landed on his shoulder—a subconscious action from long practice of how to fall safely.

Usually this was fine, but this ti Horvath's challenge sent him falling to his left side. When Julien's left shoulder hit the ground, a sharp pain shot through him.

"Ah!" Julien cried out, clutching his shoulder as he hit the ground.

Tweet!

The referee's whistle imdiately followed. This was clearly a foul, and he was reaching into his pocket for a card when a shout rang out—

"What the hell are you trying to do?!"

Seeing Julien brought down, Rothen sprinted over and shoved Horvath to the ground, pointing at him with a fierce expression.

Limbersky, catching up, imdiately retaliated by pushing Rothen back.

Players from both sides rushed in—so to separate the combatants, others to join the shoving match.

Tweet, tweet, tweet!

The referee's whistle shrilled repeatedly as he moved to separate the players, with the linesn also rushing over to pull the sides apart.

Chaos, there was complete chaos.

De Bruyne, anwhile, imdiately called for the team doctor to check on Julien.

After examining Julien, the team doctor looked serious. "It's twisted again. You probably can't continue, Julien. You need to rest."

"Give painkillers—I can still play!" Julien grimaced, pointing to his shoulder.

He also checked his system:

[Left shoulder joint moderate sprain: Second injury, recovery ti reduced by 30%, current estimated recovery: 13 days.]

________________________________________________________

Check out my patreon where you can read more chapters:

patreon/LorianFiction

Thanks for your support!