"This makes Group B's situation even clearer."
The TF1 commentator went on to briefly discuss the other groups' results from the previous round.
"Unlike what most fans expected with clear favorites, many teams we consider strong are actually struggling somewhat in the Europa League, which proves that every team capable of playing in European competition is no pushover."
"Napoli, Atletico, and Liverpool all played well with big winning margins. But Newcastle United, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Marseille, Tottenham, and Inter Milan all drew.
Inter Milan was particularly surprising, they drew 2-2 at home with Rubin Kazan.
Stramaccioni, who has never coached any first team before, is making this Serie A giant lose its luster. He took over from Ranieri last season and improved results, finishing sixth, but this season performances have started declining. It's hard to imagine that Inter Milan might have no European competition to play by the end of this season."
At the Cesari Stadium, De Bruyne took the free kick, creating another scramble in Tel Aviv Hapoel's penalty area.
Lukaku appealed for a possible handball, but the referee ignored it.
Play continued.
Tel Aviv Hapoel's attacks mainly required possession, then flank attacks.
But against a midfield combination of De Bruyne, Kante, and Rothen, Tel Aviv Hapoel couldn't maintain possession at all.
In the Israeli Super League, they never had to play defensive counterattacking football.
In fact, since Zahavi left Tel Aviv Hapoel, the team's attacking creativity had been severely limited.
Benado's tactics might still have bright spots in attack, but the players' limited ability made them difficult to execute.
The overall squad depth was insufficient, and the aging defensive system combined with goalkeeper inconsistency seriously dragged down results.
This season in the Israeli league, they had already been overtaken by Tel Aviv Maccabi and Haifa Maccabi, currently occupying a "championship group gatekeeper" position.
This marked the beginning of a traditional powerhouse's slide toward mid-table mediocrity.
Now playing away, Tel Aviv Hapoel's players were clearly uncomfortable facing a team like Bastia riding high on confidence.
Near the end of the half, they made a huge mistake.
Mane pressed forward, and their veteran midfielder Vermouth made a passing error, playing the ball straight to Lukaku's feet.
Even Lukaku was stunned. So, his touch was slow and heavy, allowing Edel to come out and collect the ball.
Whoa!
The home fans clutched their heads in disappointment—it had been a golden opportunity.
Lukaku was still bewildered. When he realized what kind of chance he'd missed, he smiled awkwardly and gave Mane a thumbs up.
Tweet!
The halftime whistle blew.
Clap clap clap!
The crowd applauded their team vigorously. This half's performance had been complete domination, exploding Tel Aviv Hapoel's midfield and forcing them to retreat into desperate defense.
The "MLD" combination of Mane, Lukaku, and De Rocca had battered Tel Aviv Hapoel's backline.
Particularly on Julien's side were two yellow cards.
So, when Benado returned to the dressing room, his brow was furrowed. He wasn't sure how to address his players.
'A comeback?'
He sighed. Perhaps it was possible.
But when he actually stood in the center of the dressing room, his expression was stern, his gaze sharp as a hawk's as he swept over each player.
"Listen! Now is not the time to hang our heads. There are still 45 minutes left. What's a two-goal deficit? Remember the badge on your jerseys—it doesn't let us fall before the final whistle.
No matter how strong their winger is, he's still just one man!
In Second half, fullbacks, stick to him like glue. Defensive midfielders, always be ready to help. Don't let him get up to speed. When they push forward, their backline is full of holes, be bold and get in behind them on the counter. Midfield passing needs to be sharp as knives!
I don't know if the final result will be as wonderful as we hope, but in the Europa League's six group matches, we're already at the cliff's edge. Lose this one, and it basically means we're out.
So don't worry about the result.
I need each of you to run 10% more, win one more second ball! Don't worry about mistakes—just attack! We have nothing left to lose. If we can't win this, goal difference means nothing.
Fight for the last forty-five minutes!"
The Tel Aviv Hapoel players looked determined, but in their hearts, there was a trace of dejection.
From the first half, they already knew what kind of team they were facing.
The gap was objectively real. However, they truly only had one path left: to fight.
On the other side, Hadzibegic kept emphasizing that attacks needed to pick up the pace.
"The faster we go, the more we can disrupt their formation, that's where opportunities come from. In the final third, you must be more decisive. If there's space, shoot without hesitation. Always be ready for rebounds."
"Of course, the backline can't push up too high to avoid being caught behind. Sidibe, don't overlap too much—focus on helping with defense. You have pace, you can recover."
The players nodded.
Having said that, the players rested on their own while the medical staff helped some players with muscle relaxation.
Fabruettu worked on releasing muscle tension in Julien's legs, and said: "You need to be careful. Their tackles are getting rougher—they seem to be playing with some anger."
Julien nodded, "As a forward, getting kicked is normal, isn't it? People always say forwards' careers basically fall off a cliff after thirty, while defenders, if they stay disciplined enough, often hit their peak after thirty."
Fabruettu completely agreed, "Exactly—one gets kicked, the other does the kicking. The difference is huge."
Actually, Fabruettu was thinking that if Julien continued playing this style, he might decline significantly before even reaching thirty.
Julien already had a fragile body, was tall, and his flashy footwork would make him an even bigger target for opponents.
Frequent injuries seemed likely to plague him.
Genius is the greatest pain in mediocre hearts, they don't hesitate to face genius with the greatest malice.
Fabruettu watched Julien rest with his eyes closed, saying nothing as he quietly continued the massage.
Julien took the opportunity to check his stats panel.
Soon, halftime ended.
Both teams returned to the pitch.
ROAR! ROAR ROAR!!
The fans' passion hadn't diminished—the voices of over twenty thousand grew even more intense.
Most of the twenty thousand were Bastia locals.
A small portion had come from other parts of France for Julien, France's most watched national team star had no shortage of admirers.
Tweet!
The whistle sounded and the second half began.
Tel Aviv Hapoel's players were clearly more aggressive.
But it was useless.
De Bruyne controlled the ball in midfield, turned, feinted, and not only shook off the defending player, but their eager pressing actually caused them to step on De Bruyne and bring him down.
The referee immediately showed Badir a yellow card.
Badir protested to the referee, but couldn't change the decision. Several Tel Aviv Hapoel players looked toward Benado on the sideline.
He showed no reaction. Clearly, he wanted them to continue playing this way.
In the stands, scouts Elion and Leonardo smiled as they watched De Bruyne's escape move. Both were very satisfied with him.
Leonardo said to Elion, "I think we should talk about this number 17, Kevin De Bruyne. He looks promising."
Elion shook his head and spoke. "You won't buy him. Pogba is playing well—you don't lack midfielders. What you really need is a top explosive player like Julien. It just depends whether your club has the courage to sign him and build the team around him as the core."
Hearing this, Leonardo looked somewhat dejected. "I can't decide what happens in Turin. All I can do is faithfully report the situation here."
Elion nodded. As scouts abroad, their ability to influence team decisions was indeed limited.
He said: "If Turin is willing to take a gamble on Julien, I'm willing to help you make an introduction. I can get Marotta to come to France and talk with Julien's father, who's also his agent.
You've seen how Julien plays: he needs possession and he needs to be the core. Juventus's obstacle in signing him would be whether the team can give him those things."
Leonardo fell silent.
The universal problem with powerhouse clubs like Juventus was internal politics.
Elion continued looking unconcerned, "Look at Julien's situation now at Bastia and with the French national team. At Bastia, needless to say, they're definitely clinging to Julien's coattails.
With France, he's appeared just at a period of player transition. Julien's emergence filled that gap, plus with Blanc and Deschamps' bold promotion and a major overhaul, they're now building around Julien as the core.
And see that number 13? N'Golo Kante, last season he was playing as a substitute in Ligue 2. This season, after coming to play alongside Julien, he's already in the French national team squad.
Julien's influence in France is bigger than either of us imagined.
So, I really look forward to Julien joining Juventus, after all, Juve has a tradition with French players. But again, it comes back to that question: Can Juventus give Julien the tactical role and dressing room status he has at Bastia and with France?"
Leonardo remained silent. Elion continued talking to himself: "So don't look at how fiercely the foreign media is speculating now about Julien possibly joining Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern—clubs like that.
It's actually impossible. Because such giants would never build around an eighteen-year-old kid as their core.
Barcelona has that tradition, but Julien isn't La Masia-trained, doesn't belong to Barcelona's own people, so it's impossible there too."
Leonardo finally couldn't hold back, "Then where do you think he'll go?"
Elion smiled and said: "Didn't I tell you? A 'Juventus' that can give Julien absolute core status."
Leonardo shrugged noncommittally, "That's all our speculation. What if Julien simply has dreams of joining a giant club?"
"You don't understand Julien."
Elion directly dismissed this, "For top geniuses like Julien, they never need clubs to make them—they make clubs, they make an era."
Leonardo frowned at him and said. "You rate him that highly?"
Elion focused his gaze on Julien, who was dribbling and trying to break through on the pitch, and answered: "I'm the one who brought him to Chelsea."
Leonardo wasn't sure what connection that had, but clearly, they couldn't continue this conversation.
ROAR!
The crowd erupted as Julien took on three players!!
Both Gordana and Antebi were on yellow cards, and with Badir also having been booked for fouling, Tel Aviv Hapoel's players knew the referee was being strict.
They didn't dare foul.
So, when Julien received the ball and faced a double-team, he feinted to cut inside, then suddenly changed direction and continued charging down the touchline.
Tracking back, winger Ben Haim slid in from the side with a flying tackle.
Julien stopped the ball, flicked it behind him to his other foot, and after Ben Haim slid past, quickly headed toward the penalty area.
At this point, Haimovich came to block Julien's path to cut inside.
Gordana was also catching up.
Julien glanced at the options in the middle, decided not to cut inside, and suddenly went to the byline.
He struck a cross with his right foot.
BANG!
But the angle was completely wrong, it was blocked out for a corner by the pursuing Haimovich.
The TF1 commentator said, "The cross! Oh dear, De Rocca didn't handle that well. The main issue was that he had to use his right foot, and his right foot is so much weaker than his left that this block was unavoidable."
De Bruyne walked toward the corner flag. He high-fived Julien as he passed, encouraging him.
Julien positioned himself outside the penalty area, waiting for a second-ball opportunity, while mentally resolving once again to definitely work on his right foot.
Actually, he'd had this awareness since the European Championship, but for various reasons had never trained his right foot intensively.
In fact, Julien understood very clearly that all these various reasons were superficial, the real core reason was that he felt his left foot was sufficient.
He had formed "left-foot dominant" neuromuscular memory through long-term training.
Particularly successful experiences in matches reinforced left-foot priority behavioral patterns, creating path dependency.
Positive feedback continuously solidified advantageous foot usage habits.
Additionally, training his right foot would create a sense of "reduced self-efficacy", people don't like seeing their own shortcomings.
Examining himself, Julien knew he was avoiding it.
Training his right foot wasn't just about training his right foot, it was a confrontation with his body's path dependency of over ten years, and with his own psychology.
Tweet!
The referee's whistle pulled his thoughts back to the match.
De Bruyne raised his hand.
BANG!
He struck the ball, sending it toward the middle.
Complete chaos ensued.
Players from both sides leaped to contest headers. Once again, Lukaku was squeezed in the crowd and couldn't jump.
This time Choplin failed to win the header.
But he did affect the opposing Vermouth's clearance. The latter's header out brushed Choplin and changed direction.
The ball slowed considerably and flew toward the edge of the penalty area.
Julien immediately read the situation. Djemba was defending beside him.
Julien didn't hesitate. Activating his burst mode with explosive acceleration, he appeared in front of Djemba at top speed.
As the ball dropped, he was a full body-length ahead of Djemba.
Julien met the dropping ball with a volley!
BANG!
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