The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1

Chapter 254 Goodbye 2012
Rothen took the ball and hugged Gaio.

He knew, of course, that Gaião wasn't giving him the penalty kick because he was afraid to take it; Gaião simply wanted him to score a goal in his last game of 2012.

Just like the opportunities he just created for Lukaku and Mane.

Rothen did not refuse.

Nancy's players didn't argue much with the referee about the penalty; it was pointless.

Rothen placed the ball at the penalty spot.

In that instant, many thoughts flashed through his mind—

There are images of students training hard in the Caen youth academy, dreaming of football; there are images of students reaching the pinnacle of their careers at Monaco, receiving countless cheers and honors; there are also images of students breaking ties with their coaches and teammates at Paris Saint-Germain, and those many times of wandering.
It has been 15 years since he made his first-team debut in 1997.

It is about to enter its 16th year.

The once-prodigy, the former Ligue 1 assist leader, has all faded away on the field with time.

There are two types of veterans leaving.

One is a legendary end, receiving countless cheers and applause from fans, ending a glorious career amidst flowers and tears.

One possibility is like Rothen's original situation: he was released from his contract quietly, and even his decision to retire was as subtle as a drop of water falling into the water.

but,

Everything changed when Gaio came into his life.

Rothen knew the difference between ordinary people and geniuses. At least he once thought he was one of the geniuses. It wasn't until he saw Gaio that he realized that geniuses are also divided into different levels.

Ordinary geniuses are merely at the threshold of recognizing Gaio's talent.

drop! !

The referee's whistle completely shattered Rothen's thoughts; all he could see was the football.

His eyes were fixed on the soccer ball.

The entire stadium fell silent, everyone anticipating Rothen's penalty kick.

The fans were clearly not nervous, because it was just a penalty kick that added to their victory; they had already won.

but,

This is of great significance to Rothen.

call!
Rothen exhaled, then took a running start without pausing, regardless of whether the goalkeeper could predict the direction of his shot.

All he could think about was the top corner of the goal!

Bang!
The ball was at his feet, heading straight for the top of the goal. As expected, the ball went exactly as Rothen had imagined many times. Even though Gregorini had judged the direction, there was nothing he could do.

4-0.

A resounding victory in the first half!

Rothen did not celebrate. Instead, he immediately turned around and opened his arms towards Gaio, who came up and hugged him tightly.

Rothen remained silent, simply embracing Gaio amidst the jubilation of 20,000 fans at the Cesarian Stadium.

Then Lukaku and others also gathered around.

Courtside.

Fernandez slumped onto the coach's bench; it was over.

The game ended at halftime.

Bastia didn't push for a decisive victory. After halftime, Hagi Bejic told Bastia's players, "Play it safe."

and so.

After the start of the second half, Nancy still couldn't get possession, but Bastia seemed to be deliberately letting up, which reduced the pressure on Nancy's defense.

Gaião was substituted in the 55th minute.

"Geo!"

The fans in the stands were chanting Gaio's name wildly. They knew that after tonight, they would have to wait until next year to see Gaio play again.

After handing the captain's armband to Rothen, Gaio turned and left the field.

As he walked, he waved his arms toward the stands.

"Geo!"

"Geo!!"

The shouts were incessant.

After leaving the court, Gaio hugged Hagi and Begic, saying, "Get some rest and get ready to enjoy your Christmas holiday."

Gaio smiled and nodded, then returned to the bench.

Yes,

His competition for the year has come to an end.

The pace of the second half was relatively slow, perhaps because the score difference was too large, and both sides were waiting for the game to end so they could enjoy their long-awaited vacation.

They had about ten days of rest.

Although the game was slow-paced, with no goals and hardly any exciting moments, the fans in the stands were still singing and dancing, seemingly taking the opportunity to start enjoying their Christmas holiday early.

Everyone in Bastia was all smiles.

Bastia has been incredibly successful this half-season, setting numerous club records.

Amidst such celebration.

drop! !

The referee blew the final whistle!

The Nancy players relaxed and felt relieved; while the Bastia players cheered wildly, and the substitutes rushed onto the field to celebrate with their teammates.

They are the halfway champions!
Although, as Hagi Begic said, a mid-season championship is not a real championship, its morale boost for Bastia is difficult to quantify with data.

At least at this moment,
From the players to the fans and the management, everyone knows one thing: Bastia winning the championship is not a pipe dream, it is an achievable goal!

This is the greatest significance of winning the mid-season championship!

boom! !

Just as everyone was celebrating, a sudden loud noise startled everyone, and they all looked toward the source of the sound.

Wow!
Everyone gasped involuntarily – it was fireworks!
Fireworks were set off outside the venue.

boom!
Fireworks burst open in the winter night, each one a different color, their light illuminating the area around Thessalon.

Just as the fireworks went off.

"Bastia!"

A unified shout came from the die-hard fans' stand, and at the same time, a tifo appeared. Well, there was no tifo at the beginning, but it appeared after the match.

The huge tifo has the year 2012 written on a blue background with white lettering.

Just as everyone's attention was drawn to the tifo, someone lit a corner of it, and it burst into flames instantly. Of course, only the last "2" caught fire.

The white lettering "3" was visible below. It was a very simple tifo.

As Gaio watched this scene, a sentence involuntarily flashed through his mind—

Goodbye, 2012.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"My God! You have no idea how terrifying the roar from the stands was when you scored. I was in the middle of it, and I felt like my eardrums were about to explode. Don't believe me? Ask Willian, wasn't it Willian?"

Amid Mbappe's machine-gun-like barrage of words, Saliba nodded blankly.

Saliba is still in shock; Gaio actually invited them to fly back to Paris with him!
It seems that Mbappe knew about this news in advance, and it was even Mbappe who took him to find Gaio.

Mbappé continued, "Seriously, every football fan in France idolizes you; you're truly unique in France right now."

After listening for a while, Gaio changed the subject and asked, "So, how did the talks with Monaco go?"

Upon hearing Gaio's words, Mbappe's smile widened. "I should thank you for this. If it weren't for you, we might have wasted more time looking for a team willing to give me a professional opportunity. Now our negotiations with Monaco are going very smoothly. My parents and I both feel that Monaco might be a better fit for me than Caen. We've lowered our salary expectations a bit; we're more focused on the possibility of playing time."

Gaio could hear the aspirations in Mbappe's words.

Every youth training player longs for the day they can stand on the professional stage, whether it's Ligue 1, Ligue 2, or even the French National League.

This is a player's dream.

"Congratulations, Killian, your dream is about to come true."

Saliba sincerely wishes Mbappe well. Both of them had difficult childhoods and attended the same primary school. Mbappe's father even served as Saliba's football coach. It can be said that they both knew each other's dreams.

They talked about the stories from those television scenes more than once, while lying in the same bed.

Like every French football fan, they long to relive the stories of French stars like Deschamps and Zidane.

To become the pride of all French people.

After the plane landed, Gaio, along with the Mbappe brothers and Saliba, joined Pierre.

Pierre borrowed a seven-seater van to pick them up.

Gaio first drove Mbappe and the others home, mainly because public transportation in France had just resumed and was still somewhat chaotic, so he gave them a ride along the way.

Just the week before, France went on strike again!

The strike lasted until December 22nd before gradually subsiding, which can only be described as a traditional French tactic.

December 13-14.

A nationwide, cross-sectoral strike, initiated by the French General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and other unions, protested the government's labor policy reforms, particularly the rule that company agreements take precedence over industry agreements. Employees of the Paris Metro and the French National Railway (SNCF) participated.

Of course, according to the news reports Gaio saw, there has been no new large-scale general strike in the Paris metro system.

The union's proposal that the strike "may continue until Christmas" is more of a pressure tactic; in fact, services have been fully restored since the 22nd to ensure holiday travel.

All I can say is that strikes are a very effective negotiation tactic in France.

After sending Mbappe and the others home, Pierre took Gaio home with him.

On the road.

Instead of chatting with Gaio, Pierre asked about the situation after the winter transfer window. "Now these teams know that we will make some contact after the winter transfer window, and they will definitely be very busy. Do you have any teams you are interested in? Or do you have any requirements? I want to contact them and talk about this matter."

When it came to the transfer, Gaio only had a vague idea, but he definitely had some requirements: "No traditional requirements. I hope you can subtly inquire with them about the team's goals or their 'ambitions'."

"Ambition?"

Pierre was a little confused, but he quickly understood. "You want to join a championship-contending team?"

Gaio nodded. "He may not have the ability to compete for the championship right now, but he must have the heart to compete for the championship. I don't want to just coast along; I want to win."

As he said this, Gaio glanced out the car window.

Paris is already in the festive mood.

Pierre agreed with Gaio's idea, saying, "Yes, we should pursue honors. I think you have the opportunity to become the next French Ballon d'Or winner. Right now in France, you are the most promising candidate. Of course, this is not because you are my son and I am biased towards you. I am speaking from an objective standpoint."

"Haha, thank you," Gaio laughed.

Pierre laughed too.

After confirming the matter, the two chatted casually for a while and then went home.

Even though Gaio now has a high enough income, the Pierre couple still live in their old house because, in their view, Gaio's income belongs to Gaio, not to them.

The old house was usually only inhabited by Pierre and his wife, and it was quite spacious. However, with all six children returning home today, it could no longer accommodate them as they did when they were children.

The house has only three rooms: the master bedroom for the Pierre couple and two other bedrooms.

When Gaio was little, he shared a bedroom with Lupe and his brother Les.

The eldest brother was the oldest and started working earlier, so back then the older and younger sisters would share a room, and the three brothers would share a room.

Gaio entered the house and greeted his brothers and sisters. They were all very surprised and hugged Gaio, telling him what they had seen and heard.

“You’re the idol of our whole school now! Even Lucy, the school’s most popular girl, came to chat with me. She wants one of your autographed jerseys.”

Les recounted his experiences at school.

Hahaha.

Everyone laughed.

Gaio was already quiet and reserved, so in this atmosphere he didn't say much and no one paid any attention.

After all, in the eyes of their siblings, geniuses are always different.

in the afternoon.

The whole family went out to buy some items to prepare for Christmas Eve tonight.

While the others were shopping, Lupu approached Gaio and said, "Yang, I feel like I can't keep playing. I didn't make it to the next team in this selection process; I was left behind."

Gaio patted him on the shoulder. "That's normal. Don't be discouraged. You can definitely become an excellent player, as long as you don't lose hope in yourself because of a temporary slump, okay?"

Lupu looked into Gaio's eyes.

Suddenly, memories of his brother's past came to mind, and combined with Gaio's words, a sense of understanding dawned on his eyes.

Yes, he's focused on Gaio's achievements but has overlooked what Gaio went through before, especially his time in prison.

Lupp nodded firmly.

"So don't worry, everything will be alright. I promise you, as long as you don't give up on football, football won't give up on you. Maybe we all have a dream of becoming a star, but ultimately not everyone will become a star. However, each of us is our own star."

Gaio wanted to say something more, but the others had already come over with their purchases and were calling them to come along.

Lupu was still pondering Gaio's words when his family waved to him, and he finally stopped thinking about it and followed them.

Such family activities were almost nonexistent for Gaio since he transmigrated, and he found them quite peaceful.

Very pleasant.

When they returned home in the afternoon, his mother and the others began packing, while Gaio locked himself in his room.

He needs to refine that article.

He needs to write down his story.

(End of this chapter)