The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1 Chapter 203

Whoosh!

This kick caused exclamations from the entire stadium of fans, who all rose to their feet, craning their necks in anticipation.

Gao’s left instep struck the ball mid-air.

The football soared high.

It flew over everyone in the middle, and at its apex, it suddenly plummeted!

Like autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves.

This arc,

left goalkeeper Eder no chance to anticipate. By the time he saw the ball, before he could react, it was already in front of him.

He pushed off the ground to dive.

It was already too late.

In mid-air, Eder seemed to hear the whoosh of the ball rubbing against the net.

He fell heavily to the ground.

He quickly turned to look at the net, where the football bounced around until it settled firmly on the grass.

Eder slammed his hand on the turf in front of him, then stood up.

Boom!

This volley completely ignited the stadium.

“Gao!”

Everyone cheered with raised arms, their faces filled with disbelief.

What did they just witness?

Their minds were completely filled with the image of Gao’s kick.

The football had gone into the net,

and also into their hearts.

Before Gao could even turn to run across the field, Rothen, who was closest, rushed over and hugged him tightly. “That was beautiful! Gao!!”

Rothen was so overwhelmed by the goal that the usually eloquent man could only utter the word “beautiful.”

Other players followed suit, all heading towards the stands.

At this moment,

Gao stood at the very front, his teammates behind him, all spreading their arms towards the North Stand.

Modesto’s skin was flushed with excitement as he yelled to the fans behind him, “Get hyped!”

Fans leaped and cheered.

Dong!

Dong dong!!

Drums pounded intensely.

Flags fluttered.

Blue permeated the stadium; the usually gentle sea was now raging with towering waves.

“ 3- 0!”

Hadžibegić excitedly raised his hands in celebration. At this moment, he wasn’t the head coach; he was like an ordinary fan, celebrating wildly for Bastia.

Chatham and others also stood up and cheered for Gao.

Bondy.

“William! Did you see that?!” Mbappé jumped up in excitement when he saw the goal.

Saliba didn’t answer him, instead muttering to himself, “Cool, so cool! That goal was so cool!”

Ethan, standing nearby, shouted, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Gao scored again! Gao scored a goal Kylian can’t even learn!!”

Mbappé laughed and patted his younger brother, roaring with laughter.

In the living room outside the bedroom.

Faiza and Wilfried exchanged smiles. They looked at the framed photo on the TV cabinet.

Wilfried said, “Next year we can buy a house in Paris. Caen will give us at least 150, 000 euros in signing fees, and Kylian won’t have to worry about playing football anymore.”

Faiza listened to her husband’s words.

Sometimes she still couldn’t quite believe that her child was about to become a professional footballer.

But this was also a legacy.

Wilfried was a football player in his youth, and she herself played basketball when she was twelve or thirteen, later switching to handball because her talent was stronger in that sport.

At the time, she played as a right winger, representing the Bondy Handball Club in the French Women’s Handball First Division.

Genes were truly amazing.

An amateur midfield footballer who never made it professionally, and a professional winger handball player.

They gave birth to “a supercar.”

Now, with better days in sight, Faiza said with emotion, “Our lives will improve from now on. We can have a home with 24-hour hot water, everyone can have their own bedroom, we can have a large study, and we won’t have to use the living room as a study, activity room, dining room, reception area, etc…”

Wilfried embraced Faiza. “We will all be fine.”

He also sighed, “Do you remember? When Kylian was born, Pierre brought a mini football as a gift for him. I think the destiny with football started then, it was already connected to Kylian.”

Pierre was Wilfried’s younger brother.

Calling someone Pierre in France is like calling someone Wei in China.

Faiza felt her husband’s broad embrace and said with nostalgia, “Yes, back then Pierre even said, ‘Just you wait, one day, this kid will become a great player.’”

In the living room, time seemed to stand still.

The children’s clamor in the bedroom made the small house warm and charming.

After an unknown amount of time.

Mbappé’s voice once again shouted out—

“We won!!”

His excited tone made it sound as if he were a die-hard Bastia fan.

But if you asked him, he would definitely reply, “I’m not interested in Bastia, I’m just Gao’s die-hard fan.”

Saliba also smiled, lowering his voice, “We’re going to Spain!”

Mbappé beamed, “Okay!”

The two teenagers thus agreed on an overseas trip.

Stade Armand Cesari.

The moment the final whistle blew, songs filled the entire stadium—

“Bastia! Bastia!

Blue blood forever hot

From the old port to the new battlefield

Two generations of captains carrying the same dream

From 1978’s darkness to 2012’s shining stars

The Moorish flag flies high

We return to the European battlefield…”

The Bastia players hugged each other, high-fived, and celebrated.

Everyone had smiles on their faces.

3- 0.

A complete victory.

The Hapoel Tel Aviv players walked back to the locker room dejectedly and in silence.

Their group stage, perhaps from this moment, was already over.

Third seed in the group.

Yet in last place.

At the same time as this match, Viktoria Plzeň’s away game against Atlético Madrid also finished.

Ultimately, Atlético Madrid won 1- 0 at home against Viktoria Plzeň.

Viktoria Plzeň and Hapoel Tel Aviv were like brothers in misfortune, with no points after two rounds.

Atlético Madrid and Bastia both had six points.

Bastia temporarily led the group with a superior goal difference, ranking first.

The TF 1 commentator said at the end of the match, “This is the strongest fourth-tier team in this Europa League group stage. After two rounds, only Bastia among the fourth-tier teams ranks highest!”

“Other highly anticipated giants, Inter Milan won, Tottenham drew again, Napoli was slaughtered 3- 0 by PSV Eindhoven, Mönchengladbach lost again and their qualification prospects are precarious, and Liverpool lost 2- 3 to Udinese. Group A truly lives up to its name as the ‘group of death,’ the situation is becoming increasingly chaotic…”

Tonight, Bastia would not sleep.

After the clamor at Stade Armand Cesari subsided, fans poured into pubs, drinking until they dropped.

The pub TVs showed replays.

Everyone rewatched the night’s match together.

Even though they already knew the process, even though they already knew the result.

But when a goal was scored.

The fans still boiled with excitement, shouting loudly, “Bastia! Always Bastia!!”

On the bus.

De Bruyne and Gao sat together.

They chatted.

De Bruyne said indifferently, “As long as we defeat these two teams again, we can qualify.”

Gao heard De Bruyne’s words and knew what he meant.

He shook his head and said, “The game against Atlético Madrid will be tough, but we’re not without a chance.”

De Bruyne was noncommittal.

He gave Gao a thumbs up. “That volley of yours tonight was cool.”

Gao was about to reply.

However,

De Bruyne immediately followed up, “But your previous cross was ugly.”

Gao laughed, “Lend me your right leg, then I’ll be balanced on both sides.”

De Bruyne shrugged, “Practice.”

Then he added, “I usually practice my left foot too, we can train extra together.”

“Okay.”

Gao and De Bruyne both clearly understood their weaknesses and shortcomings.

But in media reports, they appeared like divine soldiers descending from the sky.

Corse-Matin wrote, “Kevin and Gao, on the offensive end, jointly penetrated Hapoel Tel Aviv’s defense; the opponent’s tight defense was full of holes in front of them.”

L’Équipe also reported, “Bastia’s youth storm is blowing—Gao, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Kanté…”

And many more.

During training the next day, Hadžibegić reviewed the results of the past two months with the players.

Second in the league.

Temporarily first in the Europa League group.

“…We should applaud ourselves, everyone has done a great job, and I believe that when this season ends, everyone in the team will be proud of our work this season!”

The players all smiled.

As a newly promoted team, they really didn’t expect such a performance.

And the new signings who joined the team now had an increasingly strong sense of belonging.

Lukaku said this in his post-match interview last night: “Every time I score and hear the fans roar the war song in Corsican, I feel like half an islander. I really like it here, we have the best teammates, the best fans, we are the best team.”

Training ended.

However, De Bruyne and Gao did not leave.

“Let’s begin.”

They were going to do weak-foot training.

For ordinary players practicing their weak foot, it involves basic ball control drills, passing and shooting practice, simulated match scenarios, etc., starting with fundamentals and gradually progressing to more complex movements, then integrating them into actual play.

But for professional players, especially top talents like Gao and De Bruyne,

they need more specialized training methods, such as incorporating resistance bands, training in dynamic environments, or quick decision-making drills under high pressure.

Gao had told Hadžibegić that he wanted to do extra weak-foot training.

So an assistant coach helped the two with their training.

Saving a lot of trouble.

When Gao dribbled, his right foot was mostly just for support. For shooting and crossing, he sometimes preferred to use the outside of his left foot to flick or push, rather than using his right foot.

The training was somewhat unfamiliar.

But with his top-tier ball sense, all he needed was continuous training to strengthen muscle memory.

Reversing over a decade of playing habits.

One hour of extra training.

Not too much, not too little.

But it left them wanting more.

However, increasing training intensity mid-season was not conducive to match performance.

Football training is a long-term process.

It’s not a sudden enlightenment one morning.

You won’t become someone who crushes everyone else; such characters only appear in novels and short dramas, not in reality.

Gao recalled his experiences in China in his previous life.

At that time, the most common phrase Chinese fans used was to emphasize youth training, not to be impetuous, and to be down-to-earth.

But Chinese football, in every successive changing of FA leadership, always went against the objective laws of football development.

They needed political achievements and couldn’t wait ten or twenty years for youth development.

After helping the assistant coach pack up, the two walked towards the cafeteria.

They were hungry.

Bastia’s afternoon sun was incredibly soft, golden and brilliant.

It shone on the training ground,

and also fell on their shoulders.

“…When I was chosen by Gent at 12, I didn’t even dare to tackle, but the coach said ‘play your own football,’ and then I got used to it. You’re much stronger than me…”

“Running off the ball isn’t about rushing forward, it’s about creating space…”

“If you dare to put onions in my beef, I can guarantee that all my good qualities will disappear at that moment…”

De Bruyne spoke to Gao in a rambling, conversational way.

The two had become increasingly familiar over the past two months of matches and training.

De Bruyne often told Gao, “Your experience is much richer than mine.”

Gao would then say, “Yes, at least I’ve seen the inside decor of a juvenile detention center, you haven’t.”

After only one day of extra training.

De Bruyne and Gao’s group grew by five people.

It no longer looked like extra training.

It looked like normal training.

Gao said to Lukaku, Mané, Kanté, as well as Kroos and Rothen, who had joined the extra training, “We’re just practicing weak feet, there’s no intensity. You can train, but don’t increase the intensity. Otherwise, Hadžibegić will hate me!”

De Bruyne also chimed in, “Sadio has the most say; didn’t you injure your muscle from extra training a while ago, which then delayed your games?”

Lukaku grinned upon hearing their words. “Haha, no, no, I don’t know about them, but you misunderstood me. I’m not here to train, I’m just here to play with you. There’s nothing fun to do on this island.”

The others also stated that they wouldn’t increase the intensity.

Gao’s group naturally caught the attention of both Hadžibegić and Chatham.

Hadžibegić shook his head helplessly. “I’m really worried they’ll get injured, these are all key players.”

Chatham, however, saw another aspect. “Haven’t you noticed that Gao always manages to be the core of a group?”

Hadžibegić nodded. “Yes, he can chat with anyone, and they enjoy it.”

Chatham mused, “When a person can make anyone they talk to feel happy and unconsciously gather around them, isn’t that a born captain?”

However, Hadžibegić did not delve deeper into this issue with Chatham.

Chatham had called him over to say that the team had money now and planned to increase transfers in the winter window.

“I asked a friend to find a list. If you have time, take a look at the video collection attached to this list; it contains training and match videos of these players.”

Chatham handed Hadžibegić a list.

“Most of these are defensive players and goalkeepers, with a few midfield and forward players.”

Hadžibegić took it.

He quickly scanned it—

Ronny Vos, Emiliano Martínez, Virgil van Dijk, Arne Slot…