This shot from De Rocca caught too many people off guard. Even goalkeeper Jourdren, whose vision had been blocked by Hilton and others jumping, hadn't even seen De Rocca's position.
When he heard the sound of the shot, the ball was already heading for the near post!
Before he could make any reaction, the ball was already in the net.
2-0!
"Oh my god!"
"GOAALL"
This goal made the fans at the scene gasp in surprise. Many fans opened their mouths wide enough to fit a baguette.
After shooting, Julien was knocked down by Estrada. The moment he saw the ball go in while lying on the ground, he immediately pushed himself up and ran toward the corner flag.
A sliding celebration on his knees.
After getting up, he spread his arms wide toward the fans.
"De Rocca!"
"So cool!!"
The fans cheered with all their might. They had been under pressure for half an hour, not only holding off the opponent's attacks but also scoring on this transition.
They had scored again! The Bastia fans went absolutely crazy. Someone set off flares again, throwing them behind the goal.
Blue smoke spread once more.
Bastia had gone mad!
Hadzibegic pumped his fist vigorously, then embraced his assistant coaches. "Beautiful goal! Julien hasn't been affected by the injury!"
The substitute players were also amazed by De Rocca's goal.
It was so damn beautiful!
A side volley blast, perfectly keeping the ball down, the technical difficulty alone was extremely high!
Sitting on the bench, Mané watched De Rocca's shot and was already calculating in his mind that he needed to practice shooting more. Hopefully he could earn some rotation time soon.
Kanté beside him was just grinning foolishly.
"Goooooal!! De Rocca! Another goal! After being injured in the Euros, he's just returned from injury, and in his first match back he's scored twice! What do you call talent? This is talent!"
The French broadcast commentator was getting excited. "I said during the Euros that De Rocca would definitely be France's pride. He would hold up France's wing attack. After his injury, many people doubted him, thinking De Rocca might become another example of someone destroyed by injury.
But I think he has now answered with his performance after returning, true geniuses are never defeated by injury!
What about Kaká?
What about Baggio?!
Today's De Rocca—"
Listening to the commentator's praise on TV, Geronimi and Chataigner laughed together.
They hadn't traveled with the team to the United States. Instead, they stayed in Bastia. The team still had many things to handle, and they didn't have much free time.
Only when the summer transfer window closed might they gradually have more leisure time.
"I told you, Julien wouldn't be brought down by injury. The doctors at Clairefontaine said he's the type who has a fragile body but very quick recovery ability." Chataigner looked at the Bastia players celebrating together, filled with pride.
This was the squad he had assembled!
So, he turned to Geronimi and said, "Mr. President, I haven't wasted a single cent of the money you borrowed."
"Haha! Good! Very good indeed!" Geronimi had truly put everything on the line, but this match let him see Bastia's future this season.
He patted Chataigner's shoulder, "Well done. It's a pity we couldn't buy those two Belgians as well. Their talent is really impressive."
Chataigner was caught off guard by this comment. If they didn't have talent, would Chelsea have bought them?
"Chelsea spent over twenty million euros on those two."
Geronimi smiled awkwardly, "For just over two million euros, we get to experience twenty million euros worth of talent. This loan deal is quite good."
The match on TV had already continued.
Chataigner watched Bastia being pressed by Montpellier again, thought for a moment and continued, "President, you've seen this half. Actually, if we want to achieve something this season, our back line isn't stable enough."
"I've already mortgaged Bastia itself." Geronimi was most afraid of discussing squad issues with Chataigner, because whenever they did, Chataigner wanted money.
He had truly been drained dry this summer window. His planned summer vacation to Spain had been cancelled due to budget issues.
For this, his wife had complained about him for quite a while.
Geronimi could only satisfy his wife well at home to reduce her resentment.
More money now? Just sell him instead!
"We still need to renew Julien's contract. After renewing with him, we could try to mortgage that contract."
Geronimi was startled. Although he didn't understand much, he knew that contracts between players and clubs were essentially employment agreements, protected by labor law.
Clubs owned players' registration rights, but players themselves weren't "assets."
Bank mortgages required collateral with clear ownership and transferable value.
"This direct operation isn't feasible, right?"
Chataigner nodded, "Serie A across the Mediterranean has done this before, but what I'm talking about isn't the contract itself, but mortgaging Julien's future transfer fee."
"But we'd need to find a good destination first, right? Sign a preliminary agreement?"
The two discussed it but weren't too hopeful.
Chataigner saw on TV that it was already halftime.
He smiled, "Let's leave it at that for now. The team still has some money in the account. I'll try to see if there are any suitable loan players. Free transfers won't work now, we don't have money for signing bonuses, and those who don't want signing bonuses don't meet our requirements."
Chataigner smiled bitterly to himself. This was the sadness of small clubs: lack of money.
Even if you had talented core players, the other players couldn't keep up. The final result was always the core players being poached away.
During halftime, pictures of De Rocca's volley became the focus of discussion among Bastia fans.
If you had to sum up the fans' comments in one word, it would be "cool."
In Bastia's dressing room, teammates also praised Julien saying various comments like:
"That goal was really cool!"
"Awesome Shot"
De Bruyne didn't say much. In his view, this goal went in purely due to Julien's individual ability. This wasn't the football he envisioned.
At least Sidibé's handling had annoyed him greatly.
"It was all thanks to Romelu's movement. The goalkeeper's attention was on him, otherwise my shot would have been saved."
Julien replied and his comment made Lukaku feel wonderful inside.
He thought to himself, 'In the second half, I'll show you all the power of the Belgian Inzaghi.'
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