After the match ended, De Bruyne didn't immediately celebrate with his teammates. Instead, he found the team doctor and said, "Quick, take Julien to check his shoulder."
He had been worried about Julien's shoulder injury throughout the match.
In the final minutes, Julien hadn't shown his usual dribbling ability. De Bruyne understood this was because the shoulder injury was still affecting his performance.
The team doctor approached Julien, but Julien insisted on thanking the traveling fans first before undergoing examination and treatment.
The TF1 commentator said at the match's end: "Bastia completely burned themselves out this time. I don't know if they'll rotate heavily in three days when they face Metz in the French Cup, but these two matches have shown that Bastia's starting lineup is indeed solid. However, can their weak bench support them through a long season?
Regardless, this match proved that Bastia is absolutely the strongest fourth-tier team in the Europa League!
Everyone talks about Liverpool being in a group of death, but perhaps Bastia's group is the real group of death.
After the draw, most people thought Atlético Madrid and Viktoria Plzen would advance together—after all, they were the only two teams in the group with Champions League experience. But after this match, I think who advances is far from certain."
Not only Bastia fans celebrated this performance, but French fans in general applauded Bastia's showing.
However, one person wasn't happy.
Deschamps.
After watching the entire match, he had already decided to include Kanté in the next national team squad—that should have been a positive.
But Julien was injured again!
In October's international break, the French team would face Spain.
Their strongest opponent in World Cup qualifiers!
And France's most powerful weapon was injured at this crucial moment?
Now he could only hope Julien's injury wasn't serious. That he could make it to the World Cup qualifiers.
After the match ended, he immediately sent a message to the national team doctor, asking him to contact Bastia to understand Julien's injury situation.
If Bastia couldn't handle it promptly, they could have Julien treated at the Clairefontaine national team medical center.
Deschamps repeatedly emphasized that Julien absolutely couldn't develop any complications.
At the same time, he felt some resentment toward Hadzibegic. Who was it that had lectured him about "how to use Julien" last time? And now he was forcing an already injured Julien to play.
Deschamps pursed his lips. Despite all of Hadzibegic's talk, wasn't he just like himself, having to rely on Julien at crucial moments?
It was the pot calling the kettle black.
Hadzibegic had no idea Deschamps was mentally criticizing him.
He was giving his post-match interview.
Facing the reporters, he said, "This was a miraculous night. We came back from 2-0 down to win 4-2, achieving the team's first European victory in over forty years. This wasn't easy, especially coming just three days after our league match against PSG.
We gave everything in the last match, and we gave everything again tonight.
I'm proud of my players. Many of them couldn't run anymore by the seventieth minute, but they still persevered.
Julien was already carrying an injury, and his old injury flared up again in this match, yet he still scored twice.
I don't want to praise these difficulties, because difficulties aren't good things—they're not worth praising.
What I want to praise is my players, the fighting spirit they showed when facing these difficulties.
Yes, difficulties are never worth celebrating. What's worth celebrating is always the people."
A reporter then asked if Bastia could maintain this level of fighting spirit for their remaining two matches this month.
Hadzibegic replied, "We have substitute players who will also step up. Everyone in our team is a fighter who will give everything for victory."
Meanwhile, Vrba looked displeased. Facing reporters' interviews, he repeatedly said, "We shouldn't have given Bastia such opportunities. Our defense made mistakes."
He also said: "Bastia has a group of good players. Many of them are impressive. I look forward to the second leg at Bastia's home ground. This match will give us many insights, and hopefully in the second leg, we can find a way to beat Bastia.
For now, we need to focus on the league and continue fighting for next season's Champions League qualification."
In the dressing room, the Bastia players were too exhausted to talk much.
After two consecutive high-intensity matches, they were completely burned out.
After returning to the dressing room, Julien sat for a while before going to shower and change clothes.
While showering, he checked his victory points.
He got 25 points.
It was not bad.
Through this match, he also saw how unrealistic it was for the current squad to compete for titles on multiple fronts.
In a long season, there had to be choices.
Julien let the hot water pour over his body, feeling the flow, his heart was gradually calming.
The entire Bastia team didn't stay long in the Czech Republic.
Plzen had no airport. They took a bus to Prague's Václav Havel Airport, then flew to Paris for a connection.
It was very troublesome.
By the time the players returned to Bastia, it was already past 3 AM.
On the bus back to the training ground, snores rose and fell.
Even Julien couldn't hold on and fell asleep.
Chataigner didn't sleep. He looked at the exhausted faces in the bus and sighed.
After waiting fifteen minutes, Chataigner woke the players up. They wouldn't go home tonight, everyone would sleep at the training facility.
The next day.
All of Bastia was swept up in excitement.
Last night's victory, further amplified by newspaper coverage. Every Bastia citizen wore a smile.
When fans passed the Terra-Vecchia center building and saw that giant portrait, their faces couldn't help but show pride.
This was their pride.
This was their legend.
This was Bastia's other name—Julien De Rocca!
Time flew by.
Three days after the comeback victory against Viktoria Plzen, Bastia traveled to Metz for their French Cup match.
For this away game, Hadzibegic fielded a completely rotated squad, even bringing up young players from the reserve team when numbers were insufficient.
Bastia gave their main players a full week of rest and recovery.
Even Hadzibegic, known for strict training, unusually only required simple warm-up sessions.
Players received daily physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, ice baths, and more.
This French Cup match was basically forfeited by Bastia.
Throughout the game, apart from Clauss's commendable performance, they were basically dominated by Metz.
Mané was substituted on in the eightieth minute.
He received applause from the Metz fans—at least during his time at Metz, he had performed well and brought the club a considerable transfer fee when he left.
Mané's entrance didn't change Bastia's situation.
In the end, Bastia lost 1-3 away from home.
They were eliminated from the French Cup.
This was expected.
Hadzibegic focused all his attention on the next match against OGC Nice.
Nice was also a French powerhouse!
Having now abandoned the French Cup, Hadzibegic was more pragmatic about the league.
First ensure they didn't fall behind. Then see if they could compete for Champions League qualification.
Or perhaps... the League championship?
Although he knew it would be difficult, Hadzibegic indeed harbored a championship dream in his heart.
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