Julien sat on the bench watching his teammates' performance. After kickoff, Bastia played very cautiously.
Just as Hadzibegic had said before the match: "We must approach any opponent with the utmost caution."
Bastia was cautious enough. Playing deep, relying on Lukaku's pace and De Bruyne's passing for counterattacks.
With Julien and Mané, two key attacking threats absent, Lukaku was the only explosive option.
Left-back Palmieri was better at defending than attacking, while Thauvin, who replaced Julien on the right wing, had no particular characteristics—he was just making do.
After several minutes of rather boring play, the TF1 commentator said, "Currently, Bastia's attacking tactics, aside from De Rocca's individual ability to break through situations, rely more on quick counterattacks from front players.
But in this match, Puel's tactics for Nice are to control possession without rash attacks. If Bastia doesn't press forward, the tempo can't pick up.
Of course, I think Bastia likely won't press forward because their defensive line has proven in recent matches that they're very slow. Once they press up, if opponents play long balls behind them, they struggle to recover. Low-block frontal defending is the answer for this Bastia backline."
Whoosh!
During the flat match, Nice fans suddenly gasped in shock, many covered their mouths in disbelief at what had just happened—Cvitanich had blazed the ball over from in front of goal!
This shot seemed harder to miss than to score.
"Oh! Cvitanich missed an excellent attacking opportunity. Digard's pass was exquisite enough, clearing Cahuzac's head perfectly, and Cvitanich's run was very timely. You could say that until Cvitanich's shot, Nice's combination was perfect!"
The TF1 commentator felt sorry for Nice's missed chance: "Looking at the slow-motion replay, Cvitanich slipped, causing him to lose his balance and not connect properly with the ball.
Speaking of which, Nice's pitch today might have been over-watered—in less than ten minutes, we've already seen players from both sides slip three or four times."
On the sideline, Hadzibegic was clearly very dissatisfied with the defensive play, and began angrily shouting at the defense once again.
Time continued to pass.
Apart from Cvitanich's opportunity, Nice didn't create any better clear-cut chances.
Instead, Bastia gradually began playing some impressive counterattacks.
In the 12th minute, Lukaku showed his "beast" qualities again: a Belgian connection. Receiving De Bruyne's pass, he charged like a bull, sprinting all the way before shooting from outside the box and missing the target.
Just two minutes later, De Bruyne got a chance in front of the penalty area and unleashed a long shot that hit the post.
In the 22nd minute, another opportunity came from Lukaku's sprint. Thauvin seemed quite pleased, and made a forward run to receive Lukaku's pass. It was clear he seemed to resent the Nice fans in the stands, so he gave those fans a fierce shot.
"Booooooooooooo!"
He received jeers from the Nice supporters in return.
Sunset Café Bar
The fans couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly, sighing with each near miss.
"Damn it, this front line is too abstract—not even one of them can finish properly. Even Kevin from midfield is better."
"Actually, isn't this typical Ligue 1? Haha, compared to the other major leagues, honestly, we still lack competitiveness. Look at these forwards—in La Liga, forwards score forty to fifty goals per season, while here twenty to thirty is already incredible."
"At times like this, we really miss Julien. According to the Corse-Matin's Bastia reporter, Julien will come on tonight, probably around the 70th or 80th minute. The injury from the last Europa League match still hasn't completely healed."
"It has to be Julien who can do it. Unfortunately, Julien's body currently seems to have some fragile tendencies. I hope he won't get injured again—he's so young, but the more injuries he has, the lower his future ceiling will be."
"We can't help it, no one can step up in time like these."
"BASTIAAA!!
KEVIN DE BRUYNEEE!!"
While the fans were chatting, the scene on TV suddenly changed.
What had been Bastia's hard-fought positional attack suddenly saw the ball in the back of the net.
The fans celebrated wildly!
Thirty minutes in, and now finally they got a goal!
On TV, the commentator's voice was incredibly passionate: "GOAAAALLL!! Kevin De Bruyne!! What a screamer!!"
"That shot was so well-disguised—goalkeeper Ospina had no time to react. De Bruyne struck that with such quality. This young Bastia player on loan from Chelsea has been impressive this season. He currently has four league goals and two assists, trailing only behind Julien and Lukaku in the stats."
Clap clap clap!
Seeing De Bruyne score, Julien immediately stood up to applaud him, while others cheered and celebrated.
Hadzibegic couldn't help but jump up.
Scoring at this point was crucial!
Nice's players looked somewhat stunned. Looking at De Bruyne whose finish was world-class but celebration was neighborhood-level, they still seemed bewildered. How did he score that?
After celebrating, De Bruyne pointed toward the Bastia bench with a smile.
Tweet!
The whistle sounded, and play resumed.
Trailing by one goal, Nice began to counterattack. After all, being scored on first at home by Bastia made Puel shake his head.
The championship-winning coach gestured for Nice to strengthen their attack.
Their attacks mainly relied on wing play, looking for Cvitanich in the center and Bauthéac behind him.
But the effect was poor. Forcing crosses actually gave Bastia opportunities.
Whoosh!
In the 42nd minute, Bauthéac was dispossessed on the edge of the penalty area by Kanté and Rothen working together.
Rothen quickly passed the ball to De Bruyne's feet.
Without looking, without stopping the ball, De Bruyne launched a long ball toward midfield.
Lukaku pretended to lean on Pejcinovic, and when his opponent committed fully to the physical duel, suddenly pulled away a step, letting the ball drop behind before surging forward.
Nice quickly sent two players to double-team him.
At this moment, all other Bastia players surged forward to support.
They were as decisive in providing attacking support as they were in defending.
Whoosh!
The Nice home fans kept gasping as they sensed danger.
In positional play, Bastia actually performed quite well, but without Julien, their attacks visibly lacked the same threat level.
They could only keep relying on De Bruyne's organization.
At this point, the TF1 commentator emphasized again: "I really don't know how Bastia found such a gem. De Bruyne's role in Bastia's midfield is absolutely massive. You could say that when Julien's absent, De Bruyne is the strongest core player."
As the commentator spoke, the situation on the pitch suddenly changed.
After a wall-pass combination with Palmieri on the left, De Bruyne suddenly used his right foot's outside to chip the ball into the penalty area.
Lukaku acted as a pivot, drawing defenders away.
Then Rothen, appearing from nowhere, was left completely unmarked and dove forward to head the ball into the goal!
Swoosh!
0-2!
Not even halftime, and Bastia led by two goals!
"Hiss~"
The OGC Nice fans felt conflicted in that instant. They had hoped to showcase Southern French flair at home and show Bastia what a real red and black army looked like.
But the way things were developing seemed off.
Puel also frowned deeply. He had prepared quite a few defensive measures against Julien, none of which were needed. With Julien not even on the pitch, Nice was already two goals down.
How could they play now? In that instant, Puel felt the situation was becoming tricky.
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