Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

The match resumed.

At the referee's signal, Julien returned to the pitch.

After the chaos, Bastia no longer simply sat back and counterattacked. Instead, they began deliberately pressing Lens players when they had possession.

Bastia's playing style was robust. They had initially wanted to minimize energy expenditure and finish the match peacefully, but since the opposition wanted to play dirty, they wouldn't hold back—they'd give Lens a taste of Corsican-style fleshliness.

When Lens striker Maurice tried to turn with the ball, Rothen's foot movement was minimal, but he deliberately used upper-body contact to send Maurice tumbling.

The referee only called an ordinary foul.

These experienced players naturally knew how to achieve their objectives with minimal consequences.

Jean Garcia protested to the fourth official, who simply told him, "That's considered fair play."

After returning to the pitch, Julien initially didn't get many opportunities. His teammates deliberately avoided passing to him, wanting him to adapt to the chaotic atmosphere first. They worried that his youth might make him vulnerable to the opposition's tricks.

However, when Rothen finally found a chance to pass to Julien, they were reassured by what they saw.

After receiving the ball, Julien smoothly turned with it. To maintain balance, he raised his elbow slightly and "accidentally" caught Ben Saada, who was tracking back, in the ribs under his armpit.

"Ah!"

Ben Saada went down with a deliberately loud cry, his expression seeming extremely pained.

But the referee frowned and signaled it wasn't a foul, telling him to get up quickly.

This was the same guy who had just caused such a massive disturbance. The referee's officiating would certainly be questioned, and he was already annoyed with Ben Saada. Now he was diving too?

The referee could tell immediately whether it was genuine or not.

Julien didn't slow down at all because of Ben Saada's fall; he continued driving forward with the ball at full speed.

His teammates in the center also actively made runs to support him.

Beyond those petty acts of retaliation, the best way to "get back" at opponents was always through goals—making them helplessly furious.

Julien's pace wasn't particularly fast, but then again, he wasn't known for pure speed. If he were just a pace merchant, defending players wouldn't find him so troublesome.

With Lens winger Ben Saada still on the ground, they were short a man defending on the right flank.

Full-back Baal quickly stepped up to block Julien's path, coordinating with defensive midfielder Kondogbia to double-team and stop him.

Other Lens players were also subtly drifting toward the right side.

"This is De Rocca's gravitational pull—when he has the ball, never think one or two players can stop him. But Lens needs to be careful now, because De Rocca isn't just excellent at dribbling; his passing vision is also quite good."

The commentator hadn't even finished speaking when gasps echoed around the Bollaert stadium. The Lens fans were finally witnessing the magical footwork from Bastia.

Julien's feet moved incredibly quickly.

In just one encounter with Baal, Julien completed a rabona and nutmegged him in the process.

The Bastia fans found this scene very familiar.

"Haha, the nutmeg king!"

"Not a single defender can keep their legs together in front of Julien."

Having beaten Baal, there was acres of space ahead.

Julien burst forward with acceleration.

Kondogbia and center-back Rémi rushed to cover, both knowing they couldn't let Julien reach the penalty area—that would put Lens in an extremely passive position.

Watching Julien's sprint speed, they felt slightly reassured—they could still catch him.

However, in the next second, Julien suddenly knocked the ball behind the two defenders.

They were momentarily stunned and instinctively turned to follow the ball.

No one was there to receive it.

The two breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the goalkeeper had come off his line.

As they turned back to intercept Julien—

Whoosh!

They only felt a gust of wind rush past them.

Julien!

The two were stunned.

The players on the pitch hadn't seen clearly what happened, but the fans in the stands had a perfect view—after sprinting at high speed for a distance, Julien had managed a second burst of acceleration!

He used even greater speed to surge past the two bewildered defenders.

Goalkeeper Kasraoui's heart sank when he saw Julien bearing down on him—he could already tell he wouldn't reach the ball first.

He simply stopped and prepared to make a save.

After his quick dribble, Julien feinted a shot, even fooling the camera operator who focused on the goal.

But it was just a dummy.

Another touch, and the ball was back on his left foot. Kasraoui, who had already committed to the dive, threw himself out again.

But Julien's feet were too quick—he shifted the ball to his right foot and slotted it into the empty net.

Swoosh!

The ball hit the back of the net.

Bastia had scored again, leading Lens 2-0!

Julien slid on his knees toward the sideline. The Lens fans in the stands behind him threw objects and booed loudly, with some regional slurs like "islander" and "shorty" mixed in.

Julien smiled.

At the corner flag, making sure the Lens fans could see clearly, he faced the camera and used his toe to draw a triangle in the turf. Then he picked up a clump of grass from within the triangle and held it in his hand.

After crushing the grass, he blew it away with one breath.

"Haha! Julien!" His teammates rushed over to celebrate, laughing at his celebration as they mimicked his gesture of blowing away grass toward the stands.

Lens was known as the "Black Gold Capital," and Julien's gesture mocked their defense as being like poor-quality coal slag—blown away at the first puff.

The Lens fans, proud of their mining and heavy industry heritage, were enraged by this celebration.

They cursed furiously.

But Julien held up his hand with two fingers extended, silencing them.

Julien never considered himself a docile player—he was vindictive by nature.

The Bastia fans watching the broadcast were flushed with excitement.

In the bar, someone shouted, "Even the camera got fooled by Julien's dummy, haha!"

"That's nothing—look at how the camera kept panning back and forth during his dribbling. I was worried the cameraman would get whiplash from following Julien!"

"2-0! This match is sealed! With just over ten minutes left, Lens won't get another chance!"

Someone else wondered, "Speaking of that burst of speed from Julien—I felt like he wasn't even going full throttle initially. How could he have a second gear? Could it be that the Julien we usually see has never used his full speed?"

This question was also puzzling Mbappé at Clairefontaine.

His confidence had always come from his pace, which is why he had been so affected when Julien said speed alone wasn't enough.

"Could it be that his speed is actually very fast, but he's just never shown it?"

At that moment, in Mbappé's mind, Julien's ability seemed as unfathomable as the ocean.