The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1 Chapter 171

Novice’s confidence plummeted after making a mistake.

Saint-Étienne’s front line pressured symbolically, and as a result, Novice’s pass to Kante was too weak.

Aubameyang, with his incredible speed, intercepted the ball first.

Forming a one-on-one!

Novice wanted to make up for his mistake and came out to block, but Aubameyang was too fast.

After taking a step sideways, he shot, and Novice couldn’t catch up at all.

He could only watch the ball enter the net!

In just five minutes, Bastia went from equalizing to quickly conceding two more goals.

Watching Aubameyang complete a hat-trick!

Aubameyang celebrated directly with a series of somersaults on the road.

Cohade and Gradel came up to hug and celebrate with Aubameyang. Being able to score a hat-trick on the road, and with less than twenty minutes left, leading by two goals.

It was almost certain that the three points were secured.

The Saint-Étienne players were incredibly excited, and the hundreds of Saint-Étienne fans who traveled were equally thrilled, cheering in the stands.

On the sidelines.

Galtier celebrated briefly, then his face turned ashen, looking as if they were losing, shouting at his players to pay attention to defense.

Hajibegic was stunned by Novice’s continuous “superstar” mistakes in such a short period.

The team had no budget for the goalkeeper position during the summer transfer window.

He thought Novice could handle it.

Now, it seemed the goalkeeper had become Bastia’s weakest link.

Hajibegic shook his head helplessly.

Even Deschamps and Zidane felt a bit regretful about Novice’s performance. Such a performance was completely self-destructive.

One mistake was understandable.

But repeated mistakes basically meant a substitution was needed.

Zidane was quite helpless. If Bastia’s defensive lineup were a bit more complete, they might have had the ability to reach the Europa League quarterfinals or semifinals.

But now, it seemed difficult.

Unless Bastia’s attacking end collectively exploded.

In the stands.

Chatham also helplessly said to the grim-faced Geronimi, “Mr. Chairman, as you can see, the attacking players we brought in are definitely worth the money we spent, but we really have no money left for the goalkeeper position.”

Geronimi was still rational.

He looked at Chatham, “What do you plan to do? How much money do you need?”

Chatham shook his head, “I don’t have a specific idea yet. The team’s goalkeeper coach, Antonio Costa, recommended Benfica’s youth goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, to me, but he’s a bit young, and I’m afraid he can’t handle the pressure. So I’m more hopeful about signing Lille’s 33-year-old veteran, Landreau, on a free transfer in December.”

“Landreau…” Geronimi nodded slightly, “He’s been on the national team, right?”

“Yes, he has, but he was always a substitute goalkeeper, with few appearances. It’s been almost ten years, maybe ten appearances? Not sure,” Chatham said.

“You research it carefully and report back to me with the specific situation later. We’ll choose together.”

“Okay.”

On the field.

Gueye walked up to Novice, patted his shoulder, and comforted him, “Hey, relax. This is our first time playing in Ligue 1. Don’t be so nervous.”

Novice was very self-reproachful, “I’m sorry, I ruined the team’s efforts… I…”

In this match, his mistake in the first half had already made him feel guilty.

Now, this dark five minutes.

Made this almost 30-year-old goalkeeper sound like he was about to cry.

Rothen, Choplin, and other teammates also came over to comfort Novice.

Although everyone was angry and helpless about the result.

They were a team.

At this time, it was not about blaming, but about finding ways to compensate.

Gueye said, “We’ll just score back the goals we conceded. We are a team, you need to cheer up! We all know you are excellent. You followed the team from the National League to Ligue 1. Do you want to fall behind when we are striving for higher honors? Again, relax. Just treat this game as if you’re playing in Ligue 2.”

“Okay.”

Novice’s mood improved a bit.

Gueye patted his shoulder.

Then, he said to his other teammates, “Come on, there’s still time. Since it’s like this, let’s attack. Push forward more, and pay attention to my runs.”

Bastia players nodded in agreement.

On the way back to the center circle.

Rothen said to Gueye, “I find you’re becoming more and more like a captain.”

Gueye smiled slightly.

The match continued.

Galtier saw his team leading by two goals again, and with 20 minutes left, he continued to instruct his players to defend tightly.

Both wingers also had to come back to defend.

Only Aubameyang was left as a counter-attacking point, waiting for a counter.

This game.

Brought Aubameyang’s league goals to five, directly putting him at the top of the current Ligue 1 top scorer list.

Trailing him was Gueye, with four goals.

De Bruyne’s face was grim, fully focused on the field. He was not in a good mood about such absurd mistakes by his teammates leading to conceding a large number of goals.

So he played with anger.

When he dribbled forward and the opponent’s defense kicked the ball out of bounds, delaying his kick-off, he lost his temper a bit and waved at the opponent, “Merde! What are you doing?!”

Hamouma shrugged and lifted his chin, saying to De Bruyne, “What, you want to hit someone? Come on, try it?”

Gueye saw the situation was bad.

He quickly came over and hugged De Bruyne, “Don’t waste time, don’t rush, give me the ball more!”

Gueye knew that there was really nothing they could do at this point.

The opponent had fully positioned themselves.

All he could do was break through repeatedly and cause fouls.

Before conceding the goals, he had broken through multiple times, causing fouls, and free kicks were also opportunities!

Hajibegic on the sidelines shouted towards Gueye, simultaneously pressing his hands down.

Calm down.

But De Bruyne couldn’t calm down.

The ball still hadn’t been kicked out.

Bastia made a substitution.

On the sidelines.

Mané was waiting to come on.

Hajibegic put his hand on his shoulder, “The left wing is very open. Use every possible way to get the ball into the box. You can pass, you can shoot if you have a chance, and you can also try to win a penalty…”

Palmieri came off and hugged Mané.

“Good luck.”

Gueye looked at Mané, hoping he could make a strong run.

Now, the left wing desperately needed an offensive boost.

Otherwise, the right wing defense was too dense.

Beep!

The match resumed.

After Bastia kicked off, Gueye took the ball, but whenever he had the ball, there were two opponents in front of him, and someone behind him ready to cover.

He tried to force his way through.

Facing the same treatment as Maradona and other stars, he gave up.

He passed the ball back.

Saint-Étienne’s overall defense was mostly on the right. The newly introduced Mané, in his first touch.

His mind was full of Hajibegic’s instructions.

Look for a penalty!

He used his speed on the left wing to get past Hamouma in an instant.

Hamouma was stunned. This new kid, so fast?!

He couldn’t keep up at all.

The right-back, Clerc, blocked Mané’s path forward.

Mané had no tricks, he just pushed the ball forward.

A nutmeg, a strong breakthrough!

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Picture attached: Maradona ↓↓↓