The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1 Chapter 062

The Coupe de France quarter-final match between Bastia and Rennes.

None of the team members accepted interviews.

They stayed peacefully at the training base, awaiting the arrival of the match day.

The outside world was bustling.

Bastia’s media, before the match against Rennes, had already analyzed all the favorable aspects for their team when facing Rennes.

At the Sunset Cafe, Bertrand once again brought out the discount event for Gayeau’s goals.

“Ultras Bastia,” Bastia’s most hardcore and loyal fan organization, gathered at the Sunset Cafe to discuss how to give everyone a shock in this Coupe de France match.

UB is one of the earliest ultra-fan organizations in France, inspired by the “Ultras” culture of Italy and Southern Europe, emphasizing fervent support, visual impact, and collective identity.

At the same time, due to the special historical reasons of Corsica in France, this fan organization carries the unique separatist tendencies of Corsicans. Because of this, the team has been investigated multiple times by the French Football Federation.

“The pre-match tifo segment must be rehearsed in advance, let’s make a spectacular appearance in the Coupe de France!” Modoso, the head of UB, emphasized again, “I don’t want to see anyone drop the ball, you must keep an eye on the tifo materials, don’t cut corners.”

“Of course!”

“No problem!”

Modoso looked at the expressions of the other core UB members, smiled, and raised his glass, “Come on, for Corsica, for Bastia, for Gayeau! Cheers!!”

“Cheers!”

After downing a drink, everyone simultaneously roared, “Fight Bastia!!”

And the ever-present casual gamblers in competitive sports.

They were undecided about this match.

Reason told them to go all-in on Rennes.

However, past experience told them that whenever a Bastia match was involved, they had to consider whether Gayeau would play.

If Gayeau played—

An experienced player sagely remarked, “Then Haxhibegic’s tactical board must have written: 1. Give the ball to Gayeau, 2. Pray on your knees, 3. Celebrate!”

“I really don’t dare to bet on parlays involving Bastia, Gayeau has messed me up too many times.”

“Listen to me, go all-in on Bastia. If we win, it’s嫩模 (young models) at the club; if we lose, we go work at sea!”

“Yes, charge!”

And scouts from various places in Italy, England, and Spain.

They all gathered in Bastia with their respective goals.

Zidane specially took a day off from Real Madrid and flew to Corsica. Sometimes, watching too many highlights is not as good as watching a live match.

Leonardo, after receiving instructions from Torino, made Gayeau a key transfer target in the French region and continued to follow up. Naturally, he wouldn’t miss such an important match as the Coupe de France.

Although Wenger did not go to Corsica, in his office at the Colney training base, he specifically circled the 22nd on his calendar, marking “Gayeau, 7 PM.”

As for Ilion, he had already been living in Corsica for a while.

The match hadn’t started yet.

But it had already attracted too much attention.

And all of this was happening quietly.

March 20th, afternoon.

Mbappe contacted Gayeau, saying that his family had arrived in Corsica.

Gayeau took some time to meet their family and gave them tickets.

“Kylian often talks about you, saying that you are one of his idols now,” Wilfried said with a smile, thanking Gayeau after meeting him with his family, “Thank you for the tickets you gave us.”

Mbappe stood beside his parents, a little reserved.

Next to him was an even younger child, somewhat similar to Mbappe, his younger brother, Ethan Mbappe.

Next to them were Gires Kembo Ekoko’s wife and children, and other friends.

Exactly ten people.

Gayeau didn’t have much time to stay with them for too long. After a brief greeting, Gayeau returned to the training base to continue preparing for the match against Rennes.

When he arrived, he received a text message from Mbappe: “My family are all Gires’ fans, but I hope you are the winner this time.”

Gayeau smiled. Mbappe seemed to have been successfully won over by him. He didn’t reply much, just a simple “Thank you.”

Rothen saw Gayeau smiling while looking at the Rennes team’s data given by Haxhibegic and asked what he was smiling about.

Gayeau didn’t elaborate, just said, “I’m happy, so I naturally smile.”

Maolida, standing nearby, was even more envious of Gayeau’s mindset.

The entire Bastia team did not accept any interviews during the preparation period.

Until the pre-match press conference on the 21st.

Only then did Haxhibegic, accompanied by Rothen, accept interviews with reporters.

Reporters were clearly most concerned about whether Gayeau would start in this match.

“Gayeau was rested for the last match against Amiens, was that simply to prepare for this match?”

Haxhibegic shook his head, “No, it was simply because Gayeau trained too hard, and his muscle load was too high. We needed to reduce his playing time. As for this match, you will know tomorrow.”

When reporters repeatedly asked if they were confident about this match.

Haxhibegic once again brought out his usual rhetoric, “We are just a newly promoted team from Ligue 2. Rennes is a team that has consistently been in the top ten of Ligue 1. This is an objective fact. While we are fighting for relegation, they are striving for Champions League qualification… Of course, I have confidence in my players.”

Anyway, Haxhibegic never uttered any bold declarations, and reporters and fans were used to it.

Even opposing fans thought this old black man was a cunning old fox, talking about relegation, then looking at the points, first on the table!

On the other side.

The Rennes team, ostensibly with a higher chance of promotion, also held a pre-match press conference.

Head coach Antonetti accepted an interview.

Antonetti has deep ties with Bastia. He is a Bastia native and began his football career in the Bastia youth academy from a young age.

Starting from his transfer from Bastia B team to Vichy in 1979, Antonetti moved between many teams. Each time he failed to perform, Bastia welcomed him back.

Until finally, Antonetti retired from Bastia in 1990.

In his 11-year professional career, although lacking in talent, he intermittently played for Bastia’s first team for three years.

After retirement, he began coaching Bastia U 19, officially starting his coaching career.

From 1990 to 2001, for eleven years, he only spent one year coaching Gamba Osaka in Japan. The remaining ten years were all dedicated to Bastia. Apart from the first four years coaching the youth team to gain experience, the subsequent six years were all spent coaching Bastia’s first team.

It would not be an exaggeration to call him a legendary coach of Bastia.

“Bastia was once my everything. Perhaps it would bring me more peace of mind if I were the one to end Bastia’s journey, at least it wouldn’t be another team that defeated them, that’s a scene I wouldn’t want to see.”

When talking about Gayeau,

Antonetti said, “He is the most talented young player I have ever seen at Bastia. He is breaking many of Bastia’s historical records.

If only he had emerged when I was coaching Bastia, my record back then might have been better.

My biggest regret at Bastia is that in six years of coaching, I wasn’t able to win any championships with Bastia…”