The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1 Chapter 166

The Rennes fans at the Roazhon Park were stunned by Lukaku’s “black whirlwind” like impact.

The Rennes players also didn’t expect Bastia to be so fierce from the start.

The key was that head coach Antonetti had prepared too little for the other Bastia players; 60% of his pre-match preparation was focused entirely on Gaye.

Last season in the Coupe de France, Antonetti firmly believed they lost because of Gaye.

If only Rennes could have contained Gaye, they wouldn’t have lost!

M’Vila at defensive midfield, and the two center-backs Boye and Kana-Biyik, formed an inverted triangle, trapping Lukaku in the middle.

Lukaku finally got a chance for such a large-stride dribble and powerful dash, and he wasn’t interested in playing it subtly with them.

It was all about the charge!

It was all about speed!

M’Vila saw something was wrong and reached out to pull Lukaku before he could fully break away.

He tugged on the jersey, but Lukaku’s forward momentum caused his hand to slip, and M’Vila himself fell to the ground.

Whoosh!

Another gasp of surprise.

Lukaku dribbled and charged towards the front, almost reaching the penalty area. Before, he had been charging blindly, but as he neared the goal, he started overthinking—I’ll push with my left foot… I’ll shoot with my right foot… I…

Huh?!

Where’s my ball?!

Boye and Kana-Biyik had been tracking Lukaku closely. As he hesitated, Boye extended his leg at the opportune moment, blocking the ball and intercepting it.

This player, brought to Rennes from Ghana Premier League’s Heart of Lions, momentarily brought a sense of relief to many Rennes fans.

However,

A blue figure once again made the Rennes fans’ hearts leap into their throats.

Gaye!

While Lukaku was charging, he was also sprinting. When he saw Lukaku instinctively start to aim for the goal, Gaye knew something bad was about to happen.

Who was Lukaku?

A kick here, a kick there, and he’d fall over if a defender leaned on him.

So, he immediately cut inside, intending to receive a pass. Instead of Lukaku’s pass, he received a “pass” from Boye.

Gaye knocked the ball to the right and immediately sprinted forward.

Whoosh!

As fans saw Gaye receive the ball, an unpleasant memory surfaced in their minds.

Last season, Gaye had similarly torn through the Rennes defense all by himself.

“Gaye!”

The TF 1 commentator exclaimed Gaye’s name.

At the Sunset Coffee Pub, everyone stood up, their eyes fixed on the single screen.

Kana-Biyik quickly closed in on Gaye, trying to block him and stop him.

Gaye instinctively pushed the ball with his foot, creating a bit of space to avoid direct contact.

People outside said he played like Ronaldinho. In reality, Gaye knew that only his dribbling was similar; on the field, he didn’t have Ronaldinho’s incredible strength or instantaneous burst of speed.

He could only rely on technique.

Gaye feinted a shoulder drop against Kana-Biyik. When he saw Boye closing in from the left, he immediately made a movement to shift right.

Kana-Biyik saw Boye coming over to cover.

He immediately made a judgment: Gaye was going to break through on the right. So, he took a large stride over.

Gaye suddenly cut back.

Then pushed the ball forward again.

He immediately burst through between the two. Kana-Biyik realized he had been fooled and quickly twisted his body, trying to keep up, but the step he had just taken was too large.

He stumbled as he tried to follow.

Boye didn’t even think; he went straight into a sliding tackle. If he was any slower, Gaye would be in the box!

He had to take Gaye down!

Left-back Théophile, who had been tracking back, had the same idea.

They both went into a sliding tackle simultaneously.

One to the left, one to the right.

Boom!

Gaye chipped the ball to Lukaku, who was making a run on the other side. Gaye had drawn all the defenders in front of the box, leaving Lukaku almost in open space.

So, Gaye’s chip pass allowed Lukaku to head the ball directly at the goal.

As the ball flew towards Lukaku, he instinctively retreated a little, stopping the ball with his chest.

He adjusted it to his feet, then thought about shooting.

But M’Vila, who had tracked back, was already on him, challenging him.

Lukaku’s center of gravity shifted slightly.

He still managed to get the shot off!

Boom!

The shot was powerful, heading straight for the far corner!

The shot quality was high.

Unfortunately,

Because Lukaku had more time to adjust, goalkeeper Costil was already prepared.

He flew out to parry the ball.

Costil’s save was at his limit; he couldn’t tip the ball out for a corner.

The ball flew towards the goal.

Gaye and Boye arrived almost simultaneously, but Gaye’s footwork was a step faster. Boye, being a center-back, had slower footwork.

Gaye got there first, striking the ball straight into the center with his left foot!

Swish!

The ball hit the net.

Gaye, meanwhile, was knocked down by Boye, who had also extended his leg, and both fell to the ground.

“Gaye!”

At that instant,

The entire Sunset Coffee Pub, the entire town of Bastia, echoed with the same name.

Startling the seagulls in the harbor.

At Roazhon Park.

Gaye got up from the ground and ran towards the corner flag. The Bastia away section was far in the corner and quite small.

Gaye pointed towards them.

Drawing wild cheers from Modesto and others.

Boo!

But louder were the boos from the Rennes fans. Gaye ignored them, celebrating with his teammates.

Lukaku ran over and high-fived Gaye, “Good thing you were there. That ball was mine, I was too slow.”

Gaye smiled, “Mine. Should have passed it to your feet.”

After all, Lukaku was the “clumsy oaf, big guy, 1.90 meters tall but doesn’t head the ball” kind of “professional winger.”

De Bruyne hugged and high-fived Gaye in celebration, patting his head, “Beautiful run.”

He had been slowly moving up from behind. In those few tens of seconds, he had seen Gaye’s entire run and had to admit that Gaye had something special to be Bastia’s and France’s wide attacking core.

De Bruyne rarely considered anyone a genius, but Gaye was almost one now.

On the sidelines.

Antonetti spread his hands, wanting to ask, “What the hell kind of defense is this?!”

So many people, and they can’t mark one man?!

“It’s fucking Gaye again!”

Antonetti said, exasperated, as he stood on the sidelines, waving to the Rennes players, signaling them to intensify their attack.

At home, he couldn’t play defensively.

They had already lost two straight games to start the season; they couldn’t lose this one!

For this match, Antonetti had prepared a 4- 5- 1 formation, with highly flexible wingers.

Antonetti had analyzed Bastia’s defense.

Kanté’s coverage in the middle was quite extensive, so Rennes would try to strengthen their wing attacks as much as possible.

Erdinç, the center-forward bought from PSG for 6.6 million euros in the winter transfer window, would serve as the central pivot.

At this moment.

The TF 1 commentator was still praising Bastia’s early goal, “Gaye has broken his personal fastest goal record, 69 seconds! While this is far from Michel Rio’s opening 8-second goal in 1992, Gaye, with this goal, shows us Bastia’s strength this season…”

The sound from the television played on.

It mingled with the clinking of glasses and discussions filling the Sunset Coffee Pub.

Making it quite noisy.

“Gaye is so cool! If he hadn’t made that timely run, that big guy would have lost the ball again.”

“This Belgian is both good and bad. If you say he’s good, he always wastes chances and makes some really basic mistakes; if you say he’s bad, he always manages to charge through the opponent’s defense, creating opportunities for his teammates, and scores every round.”

“Yeah, the craziest thing is he wastes so many chances but always scores.”

Martin patted his stomach and let out a burp, “Whose kid cries every day, whose player goes blank every game? It’s fine, don’t ask for too much. We can’t even afford a player like that, he’s on loan.”

At this, the fans sighed.

As PSG received investment from the consortium, French fans gradually saw the tip of the iceberg of money football.

Bertrand moved constantly through the crowd, serving them drinks.

Listening to their conversations.

He couldn’t help but say, “Enjoy it while it lasts, everyone. I dare say, this season’s squad is already the strongest in our club’s history. There won’t be a stronger one.”

Someone retorted, “We even made it to the Europa League final before. I think it’ll be tough this season. There are so many European giants in the Europa League this year.”

Bertrand shrugged, noncommittally, “Just wait and see.”

He placed the tray of drinks on the bar.

Bertrand watched the screen as Gaye was once again fouled by a defender.

He cursed, “They only know how to foul!”

At the same time,

He thought back to what he had just said. He truly believed this season’s squad was the strongest in Bastia’s history.

There would never be such a dream team again.

Gaye couldn’t be kept.

Such a brilliant talent was destined not to stay long on the small Corsican island of Bastia.

When the paths of destiny so fortunately converged, those moments of madness, passion, and fervor were enough to be etched in eternity.

Just like Gaye’s graffiti on the Terra-Vecchia central building, it would forever remain in the hearts of everyone in this city.

“Gaye!”

At Roazhon Park, Cioni struggled to retrieve the ball. He called out to Gaye, wanting to pass the ball to the retreating Gaye.

But before he could pass, it was intercepted.

Rennes left-winger Alessandrini, after intercepting the ball, drove straight into the left side of the box.

Rothen tracked back to defend.

He timed his sliding tackle perfectly.

Alessandrini gave up on cutting inside, stopped the ball to evade Rothen, and then sent in a cross.

The ball flew towards Erdinç’s head, who headed it towards the goal.

A bouncing shot!

The angle was straight, posing no threat.

Novès caught the ball.

But as Novès tried to get up, his hand suddenly slipped, and the ball dropped.

Erdinç reacted immediately, extending his foot to try and poke the ball in.

Fortunately, Choplin was very focused and quickly kicked the ball out for a throw-in to clear the danger.

Novès felt a chill in his heart, somewhat frightened.

He almost conceded a goal due to such a basic mistake.

Hadžibegić, seeing this from the sidelines, almost choked.

That was too scary!

Hadžibegić shook his head helplessly. Novès’s performance in the past ten minutes had him worried that against stronger teams later on, Novès might become the weakest link.

Novès was genuinely struggling a bit in Ligue 1.

He needed to find a way to get a goalkeeper.

But the summer transfer window was closing in a few days, and Chatham hadn’t prepared for this.

They could only use Novès for now and consider signing a new keeper in the winter window, depending on Bastia’s performance at the time.

Rennes took the throw-in.

Right-winger number seven Pitroipa tried to receive the ball but was bodied out by Sidibé, who won possession.

Burkina Faso international Pitroipa was incredibly fast but physically frail.

This limited both his personal career development and prevented him from gaining any advantage in duels with Sidibé.

Pitroipa was fast, but Sidibé was no slouch either.

This time,

Sidibé had the ball, and Pitroipa tried to win it back but was firmly blocked by Sidibé behind him.

Sidibé then pushed the ball forward, quickly advancing.

Bastia was on the counterattack!

De Bruyne looked around, following up in the middle.

Sidibé charged down the left flank all the way to the attacking third without any obstruction.

Palmieri actively tucked in, leaving the wide area for Sidibé, and also drawing M’Vila’s defense away.

There was only one full-back, Danzé.

Rennes’s left-sided defense was actually very exposed. Antonetti had placed at least four defenders on the right to guard against Gaye getting the ball.

On the left, Sidibé and Palmieri combined.

Sidibé knew Lukaku didn’t like heading the ball much, so he didn’t cross it high but instead passed back.

He intended to give it to De Bruyne.

However, Palmieri was right in the path and intercepted the ball. After two steps cutting inside, he took a curling shot!

The ball flew towards the goal.

Costil was prepared and easily tipped the ball over the crossbar.

The shot quality wasn’t high.

Palmieri extended his hand apologetically to his teammates. He was a bit too eager with that shot, but anyone seeing such a large open space on the left would be tempted to take a shot.

Left-sided corner kick.

De Bruyne took the kick. Choplin, who came up to contest the header, connected with the ball, flicking it towards the goal.

However, Lukaku didn’t jump and stood in the middle, and Choplin’s header hit Lukaku’s head.

It deflected out of the box.

Gaye was lurking at the edge of the box and stopped the ball as it came to him.

Pajot didn’t think twice and immediately went into a sliding tackle.

Gaye dribbled one step horizontally to the left, evading Pajot, as other Rennes players already rushed towards him.

Gaye didn’t waste any more time.

Boom!

He curled the ball directly towards the far-left side of the goal.

This wasn’t a shot.

He wasn’t always that confident in his own shooting ability; this was a pass!

De Bruyne, after passing from the left, had retreated. When he saw Gaye get the ball, he quickly sprinted forward.

Rennes’s left side was already exposed.

De Bruyne’s run back was also helped by a screen from Palmieri.

Completely undefended!

Wide open!

The ball flew towards the left side of the six-yard box, and everyone looked that way.

Goalkeeper Costil initially thought Gaye was shooting, but when he saw the ball’s unusual curve, he quickly turned to the left.

De Bruyne wasn’t Lukaku.

Facing Gaye’s pass, he didn’t stop the ball, but turned his body and hit a low volley with his right foot!

Costil flew out.

He felt like his fingertips had touched the ball, but it was just by that much.

Swish!

0- 2!

De Bruyne scores!

Rennes fans were instantly stunned. How could Bastia’s counterattack be so sharp?

De Bruyne, seeing the ball go in, turned and pointed at Gaye, his face full of smiles.

He didn’t run out of the field to celebrate.

He just pumped his fist.

Then, he spread his arms to his teammates who were rushing towards him, celebrating with abandon.

“Beautiful, Kevin!”

His teammates praised him one after another.

And Lukaku, on his way to celebrate, explained to Choplin, “I didn’t notice, I couldn’t get out of the way, I wanted to…”