The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1

Chapter 178 Even the best tactics can't compare to a flash of genius.

Wow!
The fans in the stadium also gasped in surprise.

France's most threatening attacks have always come from Gaio's side, so Finland's defensive focus is on the right flank.

But even so.

Despite being sandwiched between Spalf and Alexander Lin, Gaio still managed to slip through the gap between them by changing the rhythm of his footwork.

This scene left the fans in awe.

Pukki quickly returned to defend, spotted the ball from his side and rear, and launched a flying tackle.

Gaio never just dribbles with his head down.

When Pukki landed, Gaio was already prepared. He braked suddenly, pulled the ball back, and dodged Pukki's sliding tackle.

He then flicked the ball forward, bypassing Pukki and rushing past him.

Pukki quickly got up.

Toivio quickly released his defensive assignment against Reviere and moved over to cover him.

However, Pukki was still a bit too slow and failed to get the ball.

The football landed.

As if glued to Gaio's left foot, he smoothly moved towards the inside. Toivio reached out to grab Gaio, but Gaio's footwork was fast enough to quickly create distance between them.

Toivio only held on to the tip of his finger, and with a little force, he pulled Gaio slightly, but his hand slipped because of the sweat on his jersey.

They couldn't stop Gaio.

Revié next to him has already moved up to the wing, creating space.

But Gaio did not pass the ball.

He saw Moisander also closing in to block his inside play, and immediately turned to look at Giroud's position.

"above!"

Giroud shouted at the right moment, and while carrying another center-back, Alkivo, he made a run towards the vicinity of the penalty area.

Moisander's attention was inevitably drawn to this, and he hesitated for a moment before lunging forward.

And it was at this moment that Gaio seized the opportunity!
He poked the ball forward.

Gaio made a run into the penalty area, and Moisander, seeing that Gaio didn't pass the ball, quickly chased after him.

But one wrong step can lead to a series of wrong steps.

He was already quite tall, so his agility was slightly less.

Gaio entered the penalty area and charged forward, then suddenly paused, causing Moisander to stop as well.

Then Gaio started up again.

Moisander is falling behind!

hiss!
The Finnish fans in the stadium gasped, staring in disbelief at Gaio's series of moves, shaking their heads and praying that he wouldn't score.

Goalkeeper Hradecki positioned himself at the near post, but as Hradecki stepped forward, Gaio unleashed a powerful shot with his left foot, almost hidden from view!
Moisander instinctively stretched out his foot to intercept.

But the ball still slipped past his feet, hit the inside of the post, and deflected into the net!

The ball went in!
In the 73rd minute, France finally managed to put the ball into the net thanks to Gaio's individual skill.

Wow!

The French fans in the stadium cheered with joy.

"Buuuuut!! Gaio! An unbelievable goal! He turned what was not a chance into a goal! This reminds me of Maradona, and also of Messi in the Dream Team Barcelona. This is football!"

The TF1 commentators were shouting wildly, "No matter how good the defensive tactics are, they can't stop a genius's moment of brilliance!"
Gaio is a pure genius!!

After scoring, Gaio turned and ran off the field, pumping his fist in celebration towards the stands.

Unfortunately, the French team had fewer fans, so the atmosphere wasn't as grand as it would be at home.

All that could be felt was the astonishment of the Finnish fans.

Gaio pointed to the away team section in the corner, where the French fans were patting their team badges.

soon.

His teammates rushed over and hugged Gaio.

"What a beautiful goal!"

"Gaio, you've made us all spectators! You've monopolized everything by yourself!"

Courtside.

Deschamps clapped his hands with delight, his face flushed with excitement.

A goal has finally been scored.

He almost thought his debut as coach of the French national team would end in a dismal draw.

But Gaio stepped forward once again.

Deschamps looked at Gaio in the crowd, and the legendary figures of the French team flashed through his mind. Every time the team was in dire straits, someone would step up.

Gaio,

They are carrying on the legacy of those great figures and moving towards legend!
Patelen shook his head helplessly.

Ultimately, they couldn't hold on.

But the Finnish team has already done their best; what else can they do?

This is Gaio breaking through the defense of five players all by himself!
What else could he say?
In this goal conceded, none of the Finnish defenders made a mistake; they resolutely executed their tactics.

But it couldn't be stopped, not because of a lack of fighting spirit.

France is in the lead.

This also relieved French fans, who needed to win every match to advance directly from this group.

Then they need to get points in the direct confrontation with Spain.

Otherwise, we'll only get second place in our group at best.

The competition for World Cup spots in Europe is fierce, with a total of nine groups. Except for Group I, which includes France and has five teams, each of the other groups has six teams.

Only the top team from each of the nine groups can advance directly to the next round.

The remaining eight best second-placed teams will play a home-and-away knockout tournament, with the four winning teams qualifying for the World Cup.

France is currently in the lead.

For French fans, this was a relief.

Because France's group only had five teams, Spain did not play on the first day of competition.

However, they played a friendly match yesterday, choosing to warm up against the Saudi team coached by Rijkaard, and ultimately won 5-0 at home.

The defending champions are France's biggest rivals.

"Gio has now scored five goals for the French national team in official matches, and he has achieved these five goals in just four games. He scored four goals in the European Championship, and now he has scored his first goal in the World Cup qualifiers."

Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a French striker legend.

Henry has scored 51 goals for France, topping the national team's all-time scoring charts. Behind him are Platini with 41 goals, Trezeguet with 34, and Zidane with 31. Given Gaião's efficiency, it seems it won't be long before he breaks these records.

Listening to the commentary coming from the TV.

Zidane smiled with satisfaction.

When he first met Gaio in Clairefontaine, he never imagined that Gaio would one day become a key player for the French national team.

At that time, in his eyes, Gaio was just a French player with great potential.

But after seeing tonight's game...

Zidane was truly pleased.

It's gratifying that the French team finally has successors!

He is no longer one of those "geniuses" who ultimately lose their way, but a true genius!

"I look forward to you surpassing my goal-scoring record soon," Zidane murmured to himself as he watched Gaio being substituted by Cabaye on TV.

Deschamps seems to have understood Hagi Begic's post-match interview from last time.

He substituted Gaio at the 80th minute.

clap clap clap!
The French fans in the stadium rose to their feet and applauded Gaio. Tonight's performance made them completely forget about the so-called "Four Little Swans" led by Nasri.

in fact,

In a previous friendly match, Nasri, who was suspended, was described by The Sun as "a pathetic loser with no ideals".

The Sun reports that Nasri suffered injuries in the new season, had some setbacks at Manchester City, and was also suspended by the national team. These multiple blows led him to seek solace in alcohol at nightclubs during his recovery period.

They were caught red-handed by The Sun.

There was also a reporter interviewing Nasri about his feelings regarding being suspended by the national team, and the interview was very close and direct.

Nasri forced a smile and said, "It's good. I can focus on the club's games. I will give 200% effort to defend the team's title."

For most fans, the game was essentially over.

France won by a single goal.

However, some French fans still clashed with Finnish fans on social media.

There was originally no conflict between the two teams, but the Finnish fans, who were getting anxious about falling behind, commented on the French fans' post, "Do you want to lend us your World Cup trophy to dry in the sauna? We're afraid it's rusty from not being cleaned in so long!"

French fans retorted, "Your entire population isn't even as big as Parisians, so it must be quite an achievement to gather 11 people who can play football, right?"

of course,

This only applies to a small minority of fans; most Finnish fans jokingly say, "Our chances of scoring are like seeing the aurora borealis—it's all luck!"

soon.

On the field, the referee blew the final whistle to end the match.

It relied on Gaio's fatal blow.

France narrowly secured three points away from home.

After the game.

Deschamps also stated frankly, "It's not easy to win for a team that's in the process of rebuilding. Many players are playing together for the first time, and there are still many issues to address. I hope they can gradually find their rhythm, and more importantly, find a sense of teamwork and treat this place as a collective."

“We tried to score more goals throughout the game, but we made too many mistakes. Also, the understanding between the forwards and midfielders wasn’t good enough. We delivered many good passes, but no one was there to make runs and receive them. We need more patience and to improve our teamwork.”

"Of course, Gaio's presence has made up for many of the problems in coordination. I must admit that Gaio's current individual ability is a very reliable attacking tool for us at this stage. Finland also knows this and they have made ample preparations, but they failed. Almost no one expected—including me—that Gaio could find the possibility of scoring against five defenders."

"Although we won this match, I still have to say that we are in a rather difficult group. The strongest team in this group is not us, but Spain. So every match is crucial for us. In the next match against Belarus, we will put in even more effort. I hope the players can perform to their level in the match. As long as we do our best, I believe we will get good results."

That night.

The entire French team chartered a plane back to Paris, where they will rest for two or three days in Clairefontaine before preparing for their next match against Belarus.

Very tight schedule.

After a brief celebration of the victory in the locker room, the players focused on preparing for the next match.

On this night, the media and fans were engaged in endless discussions.

Some people say it's good, while others say it's missing something.

Public opinion is divided.

the next day.

The French team did not train this morning.

But Gaio still got up and went for a run.

With a tight schedule for both national team and club matches, he doesn't have much time to train.

This actually has a significant impact on improving his attributes.

It's purely because of the treasure chest that it's holding onto.

"It seems we must control our injuries and avoid getting injured again during the offseason."

As he ran, Gaio thought about managing his injuries.

The off-season is actually his biggest opportunity to surpass others. While everyone else is on vacation, he can take advantage of the absence of competitions to work hard on his attributes!
immediately,

Gaio looked at his current attributes.

【Height: 184cm Weight: 70kg
盘带（+1）：86（89）；传球：81（85）

Shots: 81 (88); Headers: 44 (63)

速度（+1）：74（76）；力量：69（70）

弹跳：60（72）；体能（+1）：80（82）

Defense: 31 (40); Steals: 25 (33)

柔韧（+1）：68（70）；球感：90（95）

Hidden Attribute: Injuries: 60

Most attributes saw a slight increase.

Seeing that many attributes were nearing their limits, Gaio was also considering whether he should use his winning points to convert them into attribute caps.

Previously, it was because I lacked immediate combat capability.

He needs to improve his strength quickly, so he uses all his resources to exchange for boxes. At present, boxes are not necessary, but his various attributes need to be gradually refined.

"Sigh, but the schedule is packed, and there's no time for extra training."

Gaio shook his head.

For now, we should restrain ourselves from raising the cap and wait.

The Europa League is about to kick off at the end of the month.

When dealing with multiple fronts, he still needs methods to solve problems at critical moments.

Let's gamble with the box.

He looked at the winning points; the winning goal against Finland in the previous match had given him 15 winning points.

The remaining winning points are 86.

If they can put on a decent performance and win the next match against Belarus.

It'll probably be around 15 PM.

By comparing the European Championship with regular league matches, Gaio discovered that national team matches seem to be slightly better than club matches.

Is it because national team matches have a greater impact?

After all, the World Cup is known as the world's biggest event.

Gaio completed the training all by himself.

We went to a restaurant in Clairefontaine for lunch.

Hey, Gaio!

On the way, he heard a voice that sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it at first.

He turned around and looked over.

I just realized it was Griezmann!

He was accompanied by Lacazette, and both of them smiled warmly at Gaio.

Gaio greeted them all.

We went to the restaurant together and chatted about how they were still in U21.

When Gaio saw Griezmann, he remembered that three months later, it would be the beginning of Griezmann's thirteen-month ban by the French Football Federation.

It was also the time when U21 head coach Montbael resigned to take responsibility.

He cannot allow this to happen again.

The current French team needs a Griezmann behind Giroud.

Neither Mavuba nor Valbuena can currently match Griezmann's level.

Even he himself can't do it now.

Whether now or in the future, a peak Griezmann is extremely important!
Gaio realized he had to get involved.

However, certain methods are required.

(End of this chapter)