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

"I believe that an excellent young person should have the quality of being able to listen to others' good advice. Stubbornly going your own way will only lead you down more detours. This is advice from someone who has been there." Horn didn't openly break off relations, but his displeasure was quite obvious in his words.

In his opinion, Lin Yi was really ungrateful.

Indeed, Lin Yi's answer confirmed this: "I don't think it's necessary."

"Lin, as far as I know, you are not a good-tempered person. Perhaps the smooth progress of this hearing has led you to some misunderstanding. I assure you, no one can remain optimistic forever in the face of disciplinary review."

"There's a saying in my hometown, 'Don't give up eating just because you're afraid of choking,' which means you shouldn't stop eating just because you're afraid of choking."

"That's an interesting idiom. It seems you've made up your mind. I regret to announce that our discussion today failed to reach a consensus." Horn straightened his shirt buttons and tie, and extended his hand to Lin Yi again in farewell. "Good luck, young man. I think you'll definitely need good luck in the future."

"I've always been lucky," Lin Yi replied nonchalantly, shook hands, and turned to leave.

In the corridor, Lin Yi encountered Gray, who had led him in, once again.

"Mr. Horn didn't call me in, so it seems you haven't reached an agreement."

As it turns out, the idea that "big breasts mean no brains" is a prejudice, and the other party's judgment was accurate. Lin Yi didn't hide anything: "Yes, I refused."

Gray shook his head and said in a tone of disappointment, "Do you know what your refusal means? You know, British citizenship is one of the hardest things to obtain in the world."

"I know. We lost the opportunity to appear in the intercontinental competition, and we might have offended the English Football Association in the process." Glancing at the beauty beside him, Lin Yi continued, "We might also have lost a black-stockinged office lady who's always at our beck and call, doing whatever she wants when there's nothing to do."

"You speak so rudely!"

Lin Yi waved his hand dismissively, pushed open the heavy door, and then stopped.

"By the way, to correct you, the most difficult citizenship to obtain in the world should be Chinese citizenship."

On the other hand, as his most loyal subordinate, Horn immediately reported to Chairman David Bernstein about his communication with Lin Yi.

Bernstein was a man of deep cunning, his face revealing neither joy nor anger. After listening to the report, he remained silent for a moment, then picked up his phone, found a number, and dialed it.

"Richard, my old friend!"

"Oh! It's nothing too big, just a small favor I need from you."

"That's right, that's right, we should stick to our principles."

"Making an exception for one team is unfair to the other teams."

"Thank you so much, I owe you a favor!"

After hanging up the phone, Bernstein and Horn exchanged a smile.

Bernstein spoke as if to Horn, yet also as if to himself: "Young people always think they can change the world. Since he's so fond of taking on challenges, there's no reason for us not to support his dreams. Creating a little trouble, I think, is more beneficial to his growth, isn't it?"

Horn immediately chimed in, "You're absolutely right."

While Lin Yi was still on his way back to Manchester from London, Manchester City received an official reply from the Premier League.

The opposing side rejected Manchester City's request to adjust the schedule of the 25th round of league matches, citing the need to maintain the fairness of the league, avoid giving backdoors to title contenders, and preserve the predictability of the competition rules.

Lin Yi was unaware of this matter, and Manchester City chairman Mubarak naturally did not know that it was related to Lin Yi and the Football Association.

All the challenges were thrown to head coach Pellegrini: how to arrange for the team to play two matches in three days.

As for the FA Cup Round of 2 away match against Liverpool on February 20, it is no longer within Pellegrini's consideration.

Right now, the most crucial things are definitely the league and the Champions League. The importance of the league title to Manchester City is completely different from that of other teams. This is a title that has been waited for for 44 years, and it is absolutely not to be lost.

That said, if Mark Hughes and Mancini had a league title, they probably wouldn't have been so easily sacked by Manchester City.

With nearly two-thirds of the Premier League season completed, Manchester City is in good form and leads the league, but their city rivals Manchester United are only two points behind, so Manchester City cannot afford to be complacent.

It's worth noting that in the 1995-96 season, Kevin Keegan's Newcastle United team was overturned by Manchester United after leading by as many as 12 points, losing the league title.

For Newcastle, the wait was even longer than for Manchester City; they lost the championship trophy they had waited 69 years for.

Therefore, Manchester City absolutely cannot let their guard down.

Similarly, for Manchester City, who aspire to become a top club, the Champions League is not something they can easily give up, even against the formidable Barcelona.

After a long internal struggle, Pellegrini finally decided to rotate his squad for the match against Aston Villa.

However, just to be on the safe side, he placed Lin Yi, Silva, and Aguero on the bench in case of emergency.

The only exception was to exclude Yaya Touré from the squad, who had just lost on penalties in the Africa Cup of Nations final, so that he could stay in Manchester and recuperate.

The away game at Villa Park did not go as smoothly as expected.

Aston Villa, who have nothing to play for this season, unexpectedly showed great resilience in the match. Manchester City's attacking duo of Dzeko and Balotelli had no way to deal with them.

Villa's tenacious defense was entirely due to one person.

That was Richard Dunne, the former captain of Manchester City, who played for the club for nearly ten years.

Dunn had originally signed a four-year contract extension with Manchester City back in 2008, but with the arrival of the Abu Dhabi consortium, Manchester City went on a spending spree in the 2009-2010 season, causing the Irish center-back to lose his place in the squad.

After several twists and turns and overcoming numerous obstacles, Dunn was finally able to transfer to Aston Villa to begin a new journey.

At the time, Dunn's transfer fee was only 680 million euros, far lower than the 950 million euro market value of the 29-year-old Dunn on the authoritative football website Transfermarkt.

It could be said that Manchester City sold Dunne to Aston Villa for a pittance simply to clear out redundant players.

To prove his ability, Dunn is always particularly excited when playing against his former club Manchester City, and today was no exception.

More importantly, Dunn was not fighting alone.

Aston Villa's current defense is entirely composed of Irish players, earning them the nickname "The Irish Gang." This defensive line has allowed Aston Villa to concede only 30 goals this season, ranking 8th among the 20 Premier League teams, far exceeding their league ranking.

As members of the Irish group, they spared no effort in helping their fellow countryman, Dunn.

Dunn's center-back partner is 21-year-old Irish youngster Collins.

In goal, the position is held by Shay Given, who has made over 100 appearances for the Irish national team and is Ireland's all-time leading goalkeeper.

It's worth mentioning that Given also briefly played for Manchester City for two years before being released by the club after making way for Joe Hart, who returned from loan.

When facing Manchester City, Dunn and Given were united in their hatred of the enemy.

Manchester City struggled to break through the Irish gang's tenacious defense, and Pellegrini was forced to bring on Lin Yi and David Silva in quick succession.

When the two players came on, the game had already been going on for nearly 70 minutes, and there wasn't much time left for Manchester City and Lin Yi.