At the post-match press conference, Ancelotti maintained perspective: "This result isn't ideal, but it's acceptable for us. With some rotation, we earned a point. We're not thinking much about the league title right now—I'm more focused on the Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona.
For Ligue 1 clubs, Champions League opponents are stronger and matches more difficult. That competition clearly carries the most prestige."
Reporters interpreted Ancelotti's comments variously.
Some thought he was right.
Some wondered if he was being passive-aggressive.
Others felt he was simply making excuses for poor performance.
Meanwhile, Hadzibegic addressed the match result, "Yes, we lost 1-2. The result was within expectations.
We made many rotations, resting core players who just returned from intense international duty—including Julien, Kevin, N'Golo, and others. This decision prioritizes player health, especially protecting key players like them, while managing our fixture congestion.
Though we lost, the table situation remains controlled. We still lead Paris by eleven points.
Considering Paris also failed to win this round, the result is acceptable.
Eight matches remain, and an eleven-point cushion provides important adjustment space.
Resting our starters prevents injury risk and ensures they'll be at peak condition for the season's crucial stretch—whether competing for the league title or the upcoming Europa League quarterfinal against Basel.
This also gave valuable match experience to young players and reserves. Players like Vincent and Clauss got opportunities today. Our goal came from Clauss's assist—these experiences are vital for the squad's long-term development."
When reporters mentioned Ancelotti's "Champions League priority" comments and greater prestige claims, Hadzibegic shrugged,
"I understand Coach Ancelotti prioritizing the Champions League. Paris has elite squad depth to pursue multiple competitions, but Bastia's resources and strategic focus differ.
For our club, our fans, and all of Corsica, winning Ligue 1 carries irreplaceable historical significance! That's our primary objective.
Simultaneously, the Europa League is an important battlefield. Next week against Basel, we'll give everything.
Our strategy is clear: while maintaining our league advantage, we'll attack the Europa League with full force!
Today's rotation was based on this principle—giving core players, especially Julien, recovery time after intensive matches to face the Europa League and league sprint in optimal condition.
The original twelve-point cushion gave us confidence to rotate. After tonight, eleven points remains a massive advantage, but the league isn't finished and Europa League knockout rounds are all tough battles.
We won't be complacent.
For every upcoming match, whether league or Europa League, we'll make tactical deployments most beneficial to our overall objectives based on opponents and player conditions. We aim to go further in both competitions.
Our starters will return fully refreshed after this rest. We're confident that with team focus, intelligence, and fighting spirit, we'll create history—bringing the Ligue 1 trophy to Corsica and advancing further in Europa League!
Paris can focus on the Champions League.
But Bastia, led by Julien, is creating history with every step forward!"
Hadzibegic's words were irrefutable.
Later, speaking privately with players, he complained about modern coaching requiring rhetorical skills to handle media's relentless questioning, never knowing how they might twist his words.
Discussing this, Hadzibegic couldn't help missing his simpler playing days when he just needed to focus on football.
Of course, those days didn't offer today's income.
Julien ignored external noise.
Time had reached April—the season was approaching its final stretch.
Eight league matches remained.
Europa League, counting the potential final, had five matches left.
Julien intensified training.
During additional practice, he reviewed his current attributes:
[Julien De Rocca| November 29, 1994
Age: 18
Height: 184cm | Weight: 73kg
Dribbling (+1): 90 (95) | Passing: 82 (85)
Shooting (+1): 86 (88) | Heading: 44 (63)
Speed (+1): 75 (76) | Strength: 74 (77)
Jumping: 60 (72) | Stamina (+1): 83 (85)
Defending: 33 (40) | Tackling: 25 (33)
Flexibility (+1): 69 (70) | Ball Sense: 91 (95)
Hidden Attribute:
Injury Resistance: 65]
All attributes showed incremental improvement, with offensive areas—dribbling, shooting, passing, speed, and strength seeing the most progress.
Each rose slightly.
Though growth was slowing.
What pleased Julien was the ball feel improvement, likely influenced by his enhanced attributes.
Awareness of goal positioning.
Perhaps that was a branch of ball feel—knowing where to direct the ball.
Or spatial awareness.
The hidden injury resistance attribute had also risen slightly. Julien couldn't directly improve this—only indirectly through other attributes.
He particularly noted speed, now approaching its ceiling. But he needed to wait for victory point rewards before deciding how many points to invest in raising the speed cap.
His slight weight gain came from strengthening leg muscles for explosive speed and improving core strength for physical duels—resulting in some muscle mass increase.
However, Julien was disciplined about muscle building.
Becoming a pure power-based wide player would compromise agility, flexibility, and speed.
For him, that trade-off wasn't worth it.
Did players exist with exceptional physical strength plus elite dribbling and speed?
Yes.
Ronaldinho.
But Ronaldinho was a natural talent—he was incomparable. Julien could only steadily progress with his system's help, taking it step by step.
At Bastia's training facility, Mediterranean waves crashed day after day.
Time flowed quietly onward.
Bastia prepared to host Basel in the first leg.
European football had been eventful these past days.
Champions League always got the first tier of attention.
Bayern defeated Juventus 2-0 at home. Real Madrid demolished Galatasaray 3-0.
La Liga dark horse Málaga, led by Isco, held Klopp's young Borussia Dortmund to a 0-0 draw at home, with Lewandowski missing multiple chances.
The final match between Paris and Barcelona was played at a frenetic pace.
Fans found it absolutely thrilling.
Paris drew 2-2 with Barcelona at home.
Ibrahimović and Matuidi scored for Paris, while Messi broke through and Xavi converted a penalty.
The tie left suspense for the return leg.
In France, media criticized Ancelotti for failing to defeat Barcelona at home.
Especially combined with his earlier "Champions League prestige" comments.
Many Paris supporters worried this season would end trophyless again.
Amidst all the Champions League coverage, several French media outlets suddenly began discussing the Ballon d'Or.
They detailed Julien's statistics across all competitions:
World Cup Qualifying: 10 goals, 2 assists
Ligue 1: 46 goals, 17 assists
Europa League: 15 goals, 1 assist
Whether for club or country, he displayed remarkably consistent attacking output.
Of course, if someone called Julien an elite talent and future superstar, few would object.
But when his name was linked to this year's Ballon d'Or, skepticism emerged.
The biggest issue was Julien's lack of prestigious honors.
What was a Ligue 1 title worth?
No matter how many Ligue 1 goals he scored, people remained unimpressed.
However, despite the skeptical voices, the association between Julien and the Ballon d'Or—two previously unrelated concepts had been firmly established.
When people began debating whether Julien deserved the Ballon d'Or, the media reports had already achieved their purpose.
At Bastia, preparing for the Basel match, Julien heard teammates discussing these newspaper articles.
He simply smiled. "It's still early."
He understood clearly this was just momentum-building.
Building momentum for French football.
France needed a figurehead, so whether it was French legends like Zidane or the French media, everyone was willing to "add fuel to the fire."
Nothing more.
If Julien truly wanted to win the Ballon d'Or, he needed at least a major tournament trophy as foundation.
Many fans shared this view.
Some Bastia supporters even fantasized—if Julien stayed at Bastia, could they challenge for the Champions League?
Reality-minded fans quickly dismissed such notions.
Bastia had no money.
Before the match, Basel's current manager Murat Yakin stated, "Basel's goal has always been Europa League glory. We hope to create Basel's history."
Basel had never won any European trophy in their history. Additionally, reporters asked Yakin about UEFA's impending Europa League reforms.
According to reports from The Sun, UEFA was preparing new policies: Europa League finalists might directly qualify for the Champions League.
In recent years, the Europa League had been snubbed by Europe's elite clubs. UEFA President Platini hoped to enhance the competition's profile.
The Sun revealed that UEFA was internally proposing a new policy where Europa League finalists would directly enter next season's Champions League. For instance, if Chelsea, Tottenham, and Newcastle—three English teams reached the final this season, the Premier League would receive five Champions League spots next year, plus the league's top three finishers.
This didn't even include the fourth-place Premier League team, who could still qualify through Champions League playoffs potentially giving the Premier League six Champions League spots.
Of course, this all hinged on UEFA's new policy being approved.
Reports also noted that under the new system, even top-three Premier League finishers wouldn't automatically qualify for the group stage.
The policy remained in proposal stage. For implementation, Platini would face pressure from smaller leagues, as this would make the Champions League path even harder for smaller clubs.
Major European leagues also had concerns—domestic league standings and positions would be effectively devalued.
Basel would be affected by such reforms.
But Yakin was clever, "That's not my job. UEFA will evaluate it. All I can do is lead the team to victories. Nothing more."
Now just 38 years old, Yakin was a Basel club legend and Swiss national team regular.
With his good physique and handsome looks, in his spare time he worked as a fashion model, frequently appearing on runways.
As for Basel as a club—like most European teams with sufficient history, their story carried weight.
Basel's football story was equally dramatic.
Founded in 1893, they endured decades before tasting their first championship, then experienced golden years in the 1960s-70s with seven league titles establishing them as domestic powerhouses.
However, the dark abyss of the 1980s arrived without warning. The painful 1988 relegation cut deep—they only won the second division in 1994 to return to the top flight.
Two decades of struggle, until the lights of St. Jakob-Park stadium rekindled hope. They surged domestically with consecutive championships.
They also became Europa League regulars.
They became the second Swiss club in history to reach the Champions League group stage, advancing to the knockout rounds' multiple times.
But that was their limit.
Against European giants in the knockout stages, Basel was typically fodder—the talent gap was simply too obvious.
Especially last season.
They faced Bayern Munich in the Champions League Round of 16. Everyone knew Germany—from national team to clubs never showed mercy.
So, despite winning the home leg 2-0 and thinking they had a chance, Basel traveled to Munich and got obliterated.
Seven goals conceded. Clean sheet the other way.
Bayern was generous—if not treating opponents to a "7-Up," then serving them "Lafite."
This season, they failed to advance through Champions League qualifying and had to settle for the Europa League.
But their demonstrated strength absolutely placed them in Europa League's first tier.
Many considered Bastia fortunate to draw a relatively weaker team.
In fact, Basel felt they'd drawn a relatively weaker opponent too.
Fortunately, Hadzibegic remained consistently level-headed.
When the draw results emerged, he soberly urged players to respect this opponent.
Because Basel was genuinely strong.
After Yakin replaced interim manager Heiko Vogel in October 2012, he led Basel from Champions League qualifying failure into Europa League, ultimately reaching the quarterfinals.
Absolutely not through luck.
Julien naturally understood this well—after all, this Basel squad featured many familiar faces.
April 4th.
As evening wind swept across Stade Armand Césari, it brought not coolness and tranquility.
But rather clamor and fervor!
Over twenty thousand seats, packed completely. Bastia fans roared wildly, anticipating their team's Europa League journey advancing further.
But first, they needed to defeat tonight's opponent.
At 8:45 PM.
Both squads waited in the tunnel, preparing to enter.
Julien spotted a young, fresh-faced Salah without his signature bushy hair yet.
The future Pharaoh looked ambitious and confident.
Julien glanced at De Bruyne, Lukaku, and himself, thinking with amusement, "Another future Chelsea castoff."
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