At Sunset Café Bar:
"Oh! That show-off! Every time I see him, I really want to beat the crap out of him!"
Seeing the conflict between Ibrahimović and Angoula, Martin took a swig of his drink and shouted loudly.
The others burst into laughter.
"Hey Martin, with your build, two of you wouldn't be enough for Ibrahimović to beat up."
Martin showed no irritation and replied, "Don't I have you guys? You wouldn't just watch me get beaten up alone, right? We'd definitely gang up on him!"
"Hahaha!"
Everyone laughed.
After Julien's goal, their mood had become quite good.
They'd thought the match against Paris would be quite difficult, but their captain never let them down when it came to tough battles.
Just pure grit!
However, while they were chatting and laughing, on screen, Gameiro appeared behind Ibrahimović and fired a shot that tore through Novaes's goal.
18th minute, 1-1.
"Huh?"
In the bar, the fans were somewhat stunned.
"How did they defend that? How did they let this guy find space?!"
"Oh no!"
"We can't blame Novaes for that goal. The defense was completely torn apart. Pastore's pass—I have to admit, he's got something."
On the sidelines, seeing Gameiro score, Ancelotti breathed a small sigh of relief.
PSG's initial chaos had led to their three consecutive draws, but through improving logistics, optimizing tactics, strengthening player relationship management, and more, the current PSG was absolutely dominant in Ligue 1.
He didn't mean to look down on Bastia. But how could Bastia's defense possibly hold off their attack?
Just relying on a few Ligue 2-level defenders?
Gameiro and the PSG players celebrated wildly—goals were the best stimulant.
They looked toward Bastia. This so-called dark horse needed to be shown some color, to understand just how big the gap was between them and big PSG.
After conceding, Julien applauded his teammates and encouraged them, "Hey, stop just chasing the ball—mark their men! Mark them tight!"
This goal happened because Cahuzac was marking Ibrahimović and lost track of Gameiro's run.
Of course, you couldn't really blame Cahuzac—one man definitely couldn't handle Ibrahimović alone, so his help on defense made sense.
The key was Gameiro's movement, which was absolutely ghostly.
Julien knew this French striker from his time at Sevilla and Atlético.
In his previous life, Gameiro had won four Europa League titles combined at Sevilla and Atlético.
Moreover, during his time at Atlético, partnering with peak Griezmann plus an effective Torres, they were absolutely lethal.
Atlético's post-match news back then was basically just Griezmann and Gameiro.
While the PSG players celebrated, Bastia fans didn't forget to hurl water cups and even "local specialties" toward their area—someone had somehow smuggled in goat droppings.
When Ibrahimović grabbed the black pellets stuck in his hair, his face went dark.
He gave the stands the middle finger.
Boooo!
This behavior didn't silence the Bastia faithful; instead, it drew even more boos.
Deschamps and Zidane were also discussing Gameiro.
Both could see that Gameiro indeed had talent in positioning, movement, and shooting.
However, Deschamps shook his head: "He's a good player, but there's no position for him. He can't replace anyone."
Beep!
The match continued.
Bastia's kickoff immediately attempted a long ball counter, trying to seize the initiative.
PSG was well-prepared. They didn't give Julien space to sprint. Matuidi and Verratti quickly surrounded him.
As national team teammates, Matuidi knew Julien's ability very well.
As he pressed Julien, he quickly waved for help from Maxwell, PSG's left-back.
Matuidi knew that he and Verratti would struggle to contain Julien alone.
Sure enough!
When he closed in on Julien, Julien suddenly flicked the ball and cut past him on the right at extreme pace.
Verratti was small but very committed. Seeing the risk of being beaten, he threw himself into a sliding tackle.
Both of PSG's defensive midfielders: Verratti and Mohamed Sissoko loved aggressive defending.
Julien was quite familiar with Verratti. The instant he came sliding in, Julien cut the ball back and accelerated past the recovering Matuidi.
Verratti quickly got back to his feet.
Maxwell positioned himself perfectly to block Julien's path.
At this point, Julien was completely surrounded by three players. Without panicking, he made a snap decision. Since Verratti had just gotten up and wasn't yet stable, he'd look for an opportunity on that side.
As he dribbled toward Verratti:
"Julien!"
He heard a familiar voice. With a glance, Julien didn't hesitate.
A quick back-pass.
De Bruyne was there!
After receiving the ball, he suddenly played a through pass. On the left, Mané, under Jallet's pressure, got to the ball half a step ahead.
No one was there for support in the center.
Mané didn't dribble—he fired directly!
CLANG!
However, he didn't keep the shot down. Focusing too much on power, he struck it straight into the crossbar, and it bounced out for a goal kick.
Whoosh!
The crowd let out a collective gasp.
The ball looked like it was definitely going in.
The fans and Mané almost simultaneously held their heads, the difference being that the Bastia fans held their heads while standing, while Mané dropped to his knees holding his head.
He then stretched his hands toward De Bruyne, Julien, and the others in apology.
Julien gave him a thumbs up.
The TF1 commentator praised Bastia's attack highly: "Though Bastia didn't score, you can completely see the talent of Bastia's front players.
Just three players in the attacking group, but PSG needed six or seven players to defend and barely managed to stop them.
In this match, whether it's the oil….*ahem* PSG or Bastia, both defensive lines are under tremendous pressure! I can even say the defenses have basically collapsed!
These two goals already prove that Paris can't stop Bastia's counterattacks, while Bastia can't stop Paris's siege."
Just as he finished speaking, Sirigu and defender Verratti made a massive error!
Sirigu took the goal kick.
Instead of passing to Silva, he passed directly toward defensive midfielder Verratti's position, perhaps wanting to quickly launch a counterattack.
However, seeing the power of Sirigu's pass, Julien knew this ball wasn't hit hard.
Exactly as expected!
Without any hesitation, Julien unleashed both his burst mode and second acceleration.
Bursting into instantaneous top speed, he charged toward Verratti!
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