The path to becoming a football legend began with being ousted from Carrington by Manchester United.

Unlike the joyful and peaceful atmosphere of fans happily scrambling for Lin Yi's original merchandise to celebrate the Spring Festival, Tottenham's players and fans were extremely disappointed.

Gareth Bale, in particular, thought he would play the role of a superhero and lead Tottenham to victory over Manchester City.

Everything started so well; he blew up a bunch of Manchester City players, scoring twice and leading Tottenham to a two-goal lead at halftime.

However, after halftime, everything changed. Lin Yi not only outplayed Bale but also scored a hat-trick, single-handedly turning the game around.

Tottenham and Bale could only swallow the bitter pill of defeat, as Tottenham were knocked off the top spot in the league standings by Manchester City.

In another match, Manchester United finally ended their slump, winning 2-1 against Arsenal in a high-profile clash.

This season, Ferguson defeated his old rival Wenger twice, both home and away, with an astonishing aggregate score of 10-3, completely venting the frustration he suffered at Lin Yi's hands on the professor.

In fact, Manchester City's victory did not come easily.

Our star striker, Lin Yi, gave it his all during the match.

After the match, the team doctor diagnosed that his muscles were overworked and very prone to functional injuries. Therefore, he recommended that head coach Pellegrini give Lin Yi at least a week of rest.

Pellegrini readily accepted the suggestion, and since the next match was the FA Cup fourth round against Championship side Brighton, it meant he wouldn't miss anything.

Therefore, while the rest of Manchester City's players traveled to Brighton and Hoffenheim in southeast England to prepare for their match against Brighton, Lin Yi was able to stay in Manchester to rest.

His agent, Raiola, didn't waste the time; before the Manchester City players departed, he brought Lin Yi a Nike endorsement contract.

In competition with brands such as Adidas and Puma, Nike, with innovation as its business philosophy, has shown the utmost sincerity.

2012 marked a period of accelerated development for Nike's "localization" strategy in China, and they showed a strong desire to recruit Lin Yi, who represented the huge Chinese market.

In particular, Nike has always had the orthodox lineage of speed-type forwards. Since the launch of the Nike "Mercy" series in 1998, it has been synonymous with "pure speed-type players".

In this negotiation with Raiola, Nike not only offered a very sincere endorsement fee of $300 million per year, but also promised to create a "Sharp Edge" series of basketball shoes exclusively for Lin Yi.

The first generation of "Sharp Edge" will adopt Narin's suggestion to use Chinese red as the main color, which happens to match Nike's main visual symbol in the Chinese market.

At $300 million, he ranks second only to the former Manchester United duo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, among Nike's star players.

His endorsement fees are roughly the same as Kaka's, placing him in the second tier.

He is far superior to 20-year-old Brazilian star Neymar and German prodigy Mario Götze.

Overall, Nike showed great sincerity, and at Raiola's suggestion, Lin Yi readily signed the contract. The two sides held a small signing ceremony in Manchester.

Ronald Wolfram, the newly appointed Vice President and General Manager of Nike's Global Football Business, personally attended the signing ceremony and pledged on behalf of Nike that the development of the first generation of "Sharp Edge" football boots will be completed and launched to the market no later than the end of this season.

Prior to this, Nike prepared a custom-made Tiempo Legend IV red colorway as an alternative for Lin Yi.

In English football, the rivalry between red and blue is an eternal theme, and there are not many players like Lin Yi who embody both red and blue elements.

After receiving the boots personally handed to him by Nike Vice President Ronald Wolfram, Lin Yi will step into these vibrant, classic legendary shoes to compete in the next round of the league.

Coincidentally, their opponent in the next round of the league is also a member of the Red vs. Blue rivalry.

Everton, representing the blue camp, probably wouldn't like Lin Yi wearing those red football boots.

Of course, as someone who was involved in a violent conflict between the two teams in the first half of the season, Lin Yi wouldn't be liked no matter what he wore.

After their last encounter, four players, including Phil Neville, Mario Balotelli, Vincent Kompany, and Everton assistant coach Steve Lund, were collectively banned for 19 matches by the FA and fined a total of £11.5.

Manchester City and Everton were also fined £8 and £6 respectively.

This turned two teams that had no prior animosity into new bitter rivals in the Premier League from that day onward.

Everton, whose strength ranks in the upper-middle of the Premier League, have had a disappointing season due to the impact of the suspension caused by the violence incident.

After 22 rounds of the league, Everton, who used to frequently vie for European qualification, are only ranked 12th in the league, a full 9 points behind 7th-placed Newcastle United.

Everton were eliminated early from both the League Cup and the FA Cup, so their hopes of qualifying for European competition next season are extremely slim.

In the eyes of Everton players and fans, Manchester City was the culprit behind all of this.

Manchester City's away game against Everton, a journey to the historic Goodison Park stadium known for its vibrant atmosphere, is sure to be anything but an easy away trip.

Despite repeated instructions from manager Moyes, Everton players, including captain Phil Neville, remained silent in front of the media before the match.

But an invisible tension has already begun to spread, an atmosphere that began when Manchester City returned to their Carrington training ground after winning the FA Cup against Brighton.

If conditions permit, Pellegrini even wants to include Lin Yi, Balotelli, and Kompany in the rotation squad and not take them to the away game against Everton.

With the league already in its later stages, the Chilean engineers cannot accept another conflict that could result in players being suspended for extended periods, thus adding unnecessary uncertainty to their championship run.

But he's not the stubborn Mancini; he wouldn't do something so self-destructive, causing the players to become disunited.

Ultimately, Lin Yi and Kompany remained in the starting lineup as usual, while Balotelli remained on the bench. All three were included in the 18-man squad.

Manchester City were immediately surrounded by the media upon their arrival in Liverpool, Merseyside.

"Mr. Pellegrini, what are your thoughts on this match? Do you think the conflict between the two teams in the first half of the season will affect the players' mentality in this game? Do you think the situation is still within our control?"

"Lin, as the one who started all this, what do you want to say to Everton?"

"Vincent, could you tell us what everyone's attitude is towards this game in the locker room?"

"Mario, since the last violent incident, you have never publicly apologized to Phil. Do you still believe your actions were right? What do you think of the FA's eight-match ban? Do you think the FA did something wrong?"

Faced with the reporters' probing questions, Pellegrini, Kompany, and the other players skillfully chose to ignore them.

Lin Yi and Balotelli, on the other hand, stood out from the crowd.

"I think... Waaaaaah!"

"I feel... Waaaaaah!"

Fortunately, the Chilean engineers had planned ahead meticulously and made the necessary arrangements.

Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko, having received secret tips from their coach, preemptively silenced Lin Yi and Balotelli, leaving the expectant reporters empty-handed.