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

With the tacit understanding between the two teams' head coaches, the pre-match atmosphere was calm, and the parties involved remained silent in front of the camera, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

This greatly disappointed the media and the onlookers who were waiting to see what would happen, so they had no choice but to place their last hopes on the competition.

"I swear on my honor that this game may start peacefully, but it will never end peacefully," an ESPN reporter told his colleague with great confidence.

His views were agreed upon by the majority of people.

Thus, this ordinary league match quickly became the focus of attention in this round.

The Goodison Park stadium was packed with cameras, and the number of reporters who flooded the scene was more than three times that of a typical game.

The English Football Association specially arranged for Howard Webb, who had just been named the 2011 Referee of the Year by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, to officiate this match.

This is Webber's second time officiating a Manchester City match this season; the first was the equally high-profile Manchester derby.

Webber sent off Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, but subsequent video footage proved it was a dive and Hart was innocent.

This led fans to jokingly call Webber "Manchester United's official whistleblower."

It remains to be seen what his attitude will be when facing Manchester City this time.

But one thing is certain: Lin Yi and Phil Neville were definitely the people he was paying special attention to.

Before the two teams took to the court, Webber called the two players over and warned them: "Gentlemen, let me state first that I don't like trouble, so I hope no one will cause me any trouble. Can you do that?"

"Howard, I've made nearly 500 Premier League appearances. You don't need to tell me these things. You should use that time to teach those clueless youngsters a lesson." Phil Neville, wearing the captain's armband, was acting somewhat condescendingly.

"Mr. Weber, I've heard some old guys like to put on airs in front of you. Don't worry, I'll get back at you."

"If that's your attitude, then don't blame me for giving you special treatment."

Webber was not an easy person to talk to. Seeing that Lin Yi and Phil Neville were not cooperating, the Premier League referee's eyes sharpened. Combined with his strong facial features and distinct contours, he had an air of authority without being angry.

Unfortunately, this failed to intimidate Lin Yi and Neville. The former looked at Webber with a sly smile, while the latter held his head high, looking arrogant and unruly.

Unable to intimidate the old man and the young man, Webber didn't have any good solutions for the time being. He couldn't very well send them off in the player tunnel. Everything would have to wait until the game started.

With Webber's whistle, the game officially began.

Everton fielded the same 4-2-3-1 formation as in the first leg, with captain Gary Neville and Dutch international Heitinga leading the defense.

The attack in the midfield and forward areas still revolves around Fellaini, who is 194cm tall, and Straquaursi, who is 190cm tall. It is clear that Chaplin and FC Chelsea are playing a high-ball, long-ball style.

Manchester City, on the other hand, has undergone a change in manager and their lineup has changed significantly since their last encounter.

The goalkeeper position remains unchanged, with Joe Hart as the undisputed choice. Kompany, Lescott, Richards, and Clichy form the defensive line.

The midfield was where the most changes were made; in this match, Pellegrini arranged for the four midfielders to stand in a parallel formation.

Gareth Barry and Milner anchored the midfield, while Nasri and David Silva operated on the left and right flanks respectively.

The two forwards were positioned one in front of the other, with Lin Yi at the very front and Aguero behind him.

Given Manchester City's tactical style, their attacking players are unlikely to stay in their positions after the game starts, but will frequently switch positions and move back and forth.

So the starting lineup can't be accurately predicted, but reporters don't care about that. When they saw Manchester City's starting lineup, they couldn't help but get excited.

According to Pellegrini's positioning, Lin Yi, who is at the very front, will have a direct conversation with Phil Neville.

This is the reason why this group of uncrowned kings appeared together at Goodison Park.

As it turns out, if a swarm of flies is buzzing around a spot, there's either a piece of rotten meat or a lump of rotten meat there.

Lin Yi and Neville, who were highly anticipated by the media, certainly did not disappoint.

The two faced off just five minutes into the match.

In Manchester City's attacking move, Nasri dribbled past Everton's right-back Hibbert on the left flank and cut inside before passing the ball across to Aguero, who was positioned in the center of the penalty area.

Akun didn't stop the ball and immediately sent a through pass, targeting Lin Yi, who was being closely marked by Neville.

Lin Yi followed Aguero's pass and plunged into the penalty area, with Everton captain Phil Neville right next to him.

In a speed contest, even ten Nevilles combined wouldn't be a match for Lin Yi. To avoid being overtaken by his opponent, Neville tried every possible method.

He used every little trick he had learned throughout his professional career, from the first day he started playing football until today.

Neville kept tugging at Lin Yi with his hands as he swung them, and stretched his legs between Lin Yi's legs as far as possible to interfere with his steps.

It can be said that Neville fully demonstrated his experience as a veteran in this defensive play.

In this way, by pulling and tripping, they neither broke the rules nor allowed Lin to speed up.

Although Lin Yi got the ball first, he couldn't shoot directly due to Neville's relentless interference. To avoid the opponent's entanglement, Lin Yi had to dribble the ball to the outside.

Neville followed closely behind Lin Yi, his hand gently resting on Lin Yi's waist, waiting for Lin Yi's next move.

If Lin Yi tries to get past him or force a shot, Neville's hand is ready to act at any time. If all else fails, the stubborn Everton captain is even prepared to bring him down in the penalty area.

Even if it meant conceding a penalty to Manchester City, Neville wouldn't allow Lin Yi to easily score a goal from open play in front of him.

Forced to the outside, Lin Yi slowed down, using his right leg as a support leg and flicking the ball with the outside of his left foot, then turned to face the sideline.

Lin's touch on the ball was not significant, and the ball was not too far from Neville, who was positioned to his right.

Neville secretly exerted force, controlling Lin Yi's body, and stretched out his right foot straight for the football.

Just as he was about to touch the ball, Lin Yi once again flicked the ball with the outside of his left foot, turning his body 90 degrees so that he was completely facing away from the goal.

Neville's touch clearly had a significant disruptive effect; Lin Yi's attempt looked very difficult, but he still couldn't get the ball away from Neville.

Not one to give up so easily, Neville repeated the tactic, continuing to exert force with his hands and stretching out his right foot again to reach for the football at Lin Yi's feet.

At this point, Lin Yi only had one option: to continue dribbling the ball and keep his body spinning.

However, this time was different from before. After Lin Yi's body turned 90 degrees again, he completed the position swap with Neville.

Neville, whose eyes were only on the football, was still trying to intercept the ball, but he didn't realize that after Lin Yi's several turns, he had been pushed to the outside by Lin Yi.

Everton goalkeeper Howard couldn't help but curse inwardly, "Captain, are you out of your mind? Giving up your position so easily?"

The magic of love keeps spinning, and I sweetly miss his smile right before my eyes.

After circling around, Lin Yi, with a smile on his face, got the chance to face the opposing goalkeeper, Tim Howard.

At that moment, Phil Neville was still behind Lin Yi, intently stretching his leg to reach the football that seemed so close but was actually so far away.