The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1

Chapter 202 Seeing the Europa League Trophy

De Bruyne passed the ball to Gaio.

With his back to goal, Gai stopped the ball with his left foot, then flicked it back with his heel, turning and breaking past Djemba who was defending him.

Jemba instinctively pulled, but before he could touch the jersey, Gaio had already rushed out.

"Geo!!"

The fans at Thesari Stadium were already in high spirits tonight, and they saw him easily shake off Djemba with a quick stop and a quick drive.

Shout his name at the top of your lungs.

The fans near the right flank had even stood up and were raising their arms in celebration.

Many fans who had traveled from other places sat there, feeling the atmosphere and their scalps tingling.

This is football.
This is Bastia football!

Jemba saw Gaio rush over and quickly followed, but Gaio was much faster.

More importantly,

Gaio is too agile; he can make two crossovers and feints in a second, which puts a lot of pressure on their defense!
Goldana, a 22-year-old player developed by Hapoel Tel Aviv's own youth academy, seems to have his confidence shattered by Gaio's repeated breakthroughs.

Jemba was left behind, while Goldana only had a brief encounter with Gaio before his center of gravity was completely thrown off balance.

The other side.

Anteby suddenly rushed over, and Gaio immediately passed the ball out.

But this time, Antby's defensive move was very aggressive, clearly aimed at the player, and Gaio had already dodged after passing the ball.

But Antby still knocked Gaio down.

drop!
The referee quickly blew his whistle and showed a yellow card to Antbi.

Antby crossed his arms over his chest, shrugged, and argued, "No, I pulled back my foot. It doesn't deserve a yellow card."

Shhh!!

The fans on the sidelines booed wildly and shouted at Antby, "This is football, not wrestling, and not rugby!"

Some even went so far as to shout "usurier," a French word that originally means moneylender.

Many French people often use this word to refer to Jews.

This word is considered an anti-Semitic term by Jews.

Gaio rubbed his legs and got up.

The fans on the sidelines applauded him and chanted "Gayo" to him repeatedly.

"Unstoppable! The players from Hapoel Tel Aviv simply couldn't stop Gaio. Perhaps they've never encountered a player with such outstanding footwork in their Israeli Premier League before, and now that they've suddenly met him, they're finding it hard to adapt."

The only way to stop it is by committing a foul, but the problem is, if you commit a foul once, then twice, can you keep committing fouls?

Antebi now has a yellow card, making the upcoming match very dangerous.

The TF1 commentator continued, "Many fans may be hearing about Hapoel Tel Aviv for the first time. They come from faraway Asia, on the other side of the Mediterranean, very far from mainland France."

Their team has no European honors in its history, but they did win the Asian Club Championship in 1967, which is the predecessor of today's Asian Champions League, and can be understood as the UEFA Champions League.

Bastia gets a free kick in the attacking third.

De Bruyne and Rothen stood in front of the ball, covering their mouths as they discussed how to serve it.

De Bruyne said, "Listen to me, just play like that."

Rothen nodded.

Within the restricted area.

Both teams' players were positioned accordingly. Because the free kick was from a relatively far distance, goalkeeper Eder wasn't worried about shooting directly, so his main concern was preventing the opponent's tall players from getting into the box.

Joplin and Angula both rushed up to contest the header.

drop!
The referee blew his whistle and waved to signal that the ball could be kicked off.

Rothen's running start.

As he walked past the ball, De Bruyne passed it into the penalty area with a very wide arc and high speed.

During his sprint, Lukaku was elbowed in the head by someone in the crowd. He fell to the ground, clutching his head and reaching out to foul.

However, the referee made no indication of anything. Meanwhile...

The ball flew towards the far corner, where Angula and Joplin were already prepared.

Everyone was rushing forward.

Angula proactively helped Joplin push aside the defenders, giving Joplin half a body length of space.

It is precisely this little space,

Joplin leaped high into the air, using his forward momentum to deliver a violent headbutt!
Bang!
The football suddenly fell into the net.

The ball was too fast and too close; Eder had no time to react. He instinctively made a diving save, but the ball had already entered the net before him.

The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the center circle.

The goal is valid!

boom!
The entire stadium erupted in cheers. Joplin rushed to the sidelines, and just before reaching the sideline, he did a front flip, then, imitating Gaio, he spread his arms wide.

"Joplin!"

The fans spared no praise for each player, chanting their names.

Upon seeing his teammate score, Lukaku, who had fallen to the ground, instantly forgot his headache, abandoned any thoughts of fouling, and ran joyfully towards his teammates.

Less than twenty minutes.

Leading by two goals.

Such a scoreline filled everyone at Thessaloniki Stadium with longing; they no longer saw victory in this match.

What they saw was what the Europa League trophy looked like.

Dado pursed his lips.

The team's rapid defeat left him somewhat resentful, but the electrifying stadium kept challenging his confidence.

Do they still have a chance against Bastia, who are second in Ligue 1?
No matter how weak Ligue 1 may be, it is still relative to the other four major European leagues.

Not Israel.

This Israeli-Palestinian war began with their defeat and seems destined to end with their defeat as well.

Dado looked towards the pitch.

His gaze wasn't focused on the player who scored the goal, but rather on Gaio and De Bruyne, who created the free kick.

In them, Dado saw the diversity of human talents.

drop!
The game continues.

Dado directed his players to focus on defense and look for opportunities to counterattack.

But Gaio's repeated attacks on the flanks threw them off balance.

drop!
The whistle blew again, and Goldana kicked Gaio in the heel from behind.

Gaio yelled and fell to the ground.

The referee pulled out a yellow card.

Shhh!
Boos filled the stadium, and Dado's mood grew increasingly somber. Both players who were marking Gaio received yellow cards.

It's only been thirty minutes.

This is a huge blow to Shapur, Tel Aviv.

This has left Hapoel Tel Aviv fans in Israel utterly despairing about their Europa League prospects.

The TF1 commentator said, "Hapoel Tel Aviv suffered a 0-3 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid in the last round, while Bastia won 4-2 away against Viktoria Plzeň."

Therefore, this match is actually a crucial battle for Hapoel Tel Aviv to maintain even a sliver of hope of advancing.

We won; there's still hope.

The defeat not only dashed Tel Aviv's hopes for Hapoel, but also dragged down Viktoria Plzeň's chances of winning.

Perhaps no one expected the situation in Group B; after two rounds, the strength of the teams had become clearly defined.

(End of this chapter)