The strike was executed with absolute precision.
Tours goalkeeper Leroy had no ti to react. After making a desperate attempt at a save, he could only watch helplessly as the ball found the back of the net.
0-1.
Tours was trailing at ho.
The Tours fans in the stands shook their heads in disbelief. They never imagined they'd concede so quickly—only thirteen minutes in!
Maolida ran toward De Rocca's position, joining him as they rushed to the away section where the Bastia supporters were gathered.
Facing the fans, Maolida pointed toward De Rocca with both hands, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Julien!"
The fans erupted in unison.
The Stade de la Vallée was engulfed by Bastia's roar, though the Tours ultras in their ho section fought back with fervent chants, trying to drown out Bastia's montum.
This was their ho ground, after all.
But with each breakthrough De Rocca made down the right wing, each piece of skill he displayed, their voices grew weaker.
He was simply too strong!
They couldn't find words to describe the feeling—it was like watching a professional player suddenly appear among a group of amateurs.
That's exactly what it felt like.
A young man valued at thirty million euros—even if 90% of that valuation was inflated—was still beyond what a team like Tours could hope to contain.
Far away in Montpellier, Giroud kept his word and was watching the match.
Seeing De Rocca in action, Giroud smiled, thinking to himself, "This kid really is sothing special. It would be great if we could beco club teammates."
Giroud noticed that Bastia striker Maolida had multiple shooting opportunities, all created by De Rocca, but Maolida had only converted one of them.
Giroud didn't dare claim he would have done better, but surely, he would have been more clinical than Maolida?
When this thought crossed his mind, he shook his head regretfully, muttering to himself, "What am I thinking? This is Ligue 2."
Still, the prospect of becoming De Rocca's teammate filled him with anticipation.
It was just a sha. Both he and De Rocca were newcors to the national team, fringe players who rarely had the chance to play together.
But at club level? Giroud shook his head.
Montpellier certainly couldn't afford De Rocca, and besides, he had already confird his departure from Montpellier in the sumr window.
With about two months left until the sumr window, many teams had already begun their recruitnt work.
Wenger had contacted his agent, Michael Manuello, expressing interest in bringing him to the club.
When Manuello delivered this news, Giroud barely hesitated before agreeing to the transfer.
For Giroud, playing in the Premier League was one of his childhood dreams, and only two clubs could fulfill that dream: Liverpool and Arsenal. When Wenger personally made contact, there was no hesitation.
Giroud couldn't help but think, "It would be wonderful if Julien could join Arsenal too."
Ti flew by while watching the match, though the actual pace of play between Tours and Bastia was quite slow.
Only De Rocca's breakthrough runs down the right wing provided monts of brilliance. In other aspects, there was quite a gap compared to top-level football.
When the first half ended, Bastia still held their one-goal advantage away from ho.
In the dressing room, Hadzibegic was visibly frustrated. In his view, the half should never have ended with just a one-goal lead.
At minimum, it should have been two goals!
"Is this how you're preparing for the most important two matches ahead of us?" he demanded.
Hearing Hadzibegic's words, Maolida was the first to respond, gesturing toward his coach. "Sorry, boss. I should have scored more goals this half. I wasted the chances."
"You shouldn't be apologizing to —you should apologize to Julien. How many balls did he feed you this match? He's facing three defenders alone and still manages to set you up, while you can't even get a shot off when marked by just one player. How are you going to perform against Lyon with displays like this?"
Hadzibegic then turned to address the rest of the team.
"And the rest of you—have these recent victories made you forget what level you're actually at? Are you planning to face Lyon with the sa attitude you've shown against mid-table Ligue 2 teams?"
Lyon.
When that na was ntioned, the Bastia players' expressions grew serious.
No one spoke.
They didn't even notice that two caran had quietly entered the dressing room, capturing every mont.
Châtaigner stood at the dressing room entrance, observing the scene unfold.
This too was part of the road to the championship.
Having been a player himself, he knew that maintaining the right ntality during a winning streak was the hardest thing—victory could make you complacent.
But they didn't have the luxury of complacency yet.
Châtaigner looked up at the corridor lights, slightly blinding but sohow reminiscent of the floodlights and cara flashes of the Stade de France—that would be Bastia's mont.
That would be the perfect ending for the docuntary "Road to Glory," a collaboration between the club and Bastia Daily.
The halfti break ended.
As Julien erged from the dressing room, Châtaigner patted his shoulder. "Stay safe out there."
Julien pointed to the cara that was practically pressed against his face.
Châtaigner smiled. "Just docunting the journey."
Julien nodded and headed toward the tunnel. Behind him, Châtaigner watched his retreating figure and let out a heavy sigh.
He didn't understand how De Rocca could remain so calm. At least for him, every ti he looked at the young player, he could no longer stay composed.
The clubs willing to sign De Rocca in the sumr window were offering Bastia no less than ten million euros per bid.
Châtaigner felt like he could barely handle the pressure.
He could already envision that any deal involving De Rocca would beco the biggest transfer in Bastia's history!
Of course, that was assuming De Rocca wouldn't leave for his release clause fee. So far, no club knew about De Rocca's release clause.
Pushing these chaotic thoughts from his mind, Châtaigner saw the last player exit the dressing room and followed them out.
The roar of the Stade de la Vallée erupted once again.
From his seat in the stands behind the bench, Châtaigner observed that after the restart, Bastia's players did indeed show improved spirit.
Particularly Maolida, whose movent was noticeably more active.
This increased activity brought changes to Bastia's play—with soone to link up with and create space, De Rocca's close control in tight areas tornted the Tours players!
In the fifty-fifth minute, De Rocca cut inside from the right wing.
He passed to the dropping Maolida, then imdiately made a forward run. Reading the play perfectly, Maolida played a through ball back to De Rocca's path.
But Maolida's passing quality was clearly lacking—the ball went behind De Rocca.
De Rocca was forced to slow down.
But the mont he received the ball, facing the defending player, he executed a perfect stepover in the penalty area, shook off his marker, and fired a left-footed shot into the near corner.
The ball thundered into the net!
All the Bastia fans erupted in ecstasy!
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