Manchester United's right corner kick was delivered, and the ball accurately found Ling soaring in the box.
However, Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi were already well-prepared for the set piece.
The two center-backs heavily double-teamed Ling in the air, preventing him from fully generating power on the header, and the ball sailed well over the crossbar.
After the goal kick, the attacking and defensive momentum shifted between the two teams, with Manchester City beginning to control possession methodically, just as Guardiola intended.
The main attacking direction remained the right flank.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, operating as an inverted left-back, had too little experience in major matches and was prone to being caught out of position when pushing forward, so City naturally leaned away from him to build up.
Guardiola's tactics have never been conservative in finals, and he deployed a large number of players high in the attacking third to pin United back.
Kevin De Bruyne was responsible for orchestrating play in the central areas and launching attacks from the periphery, while Sergio Aguero took on more of the role of pressing forward to pin down Maguire and Luiz.
However, the most crucial core player in this system was neither of them.
It was Bernardo Silva.
His ball-handling during dribbling was incredibly versatile.
Not only could he rely on rapid changes in rhythm to shake off Luke Shaw on the wing and deliver crosses, but he could also brilliantly connect with teammates on the weak side through disguised passes while dribbling horizontally.
Additionally, he was capable of threading needle-like through balls during rapid advances in the central half-spaces.
Clive Tyldesley: "Bernardo Silva's positioning doesn't quite resemble that of a traditional winger tonight; it's more like a wide, roaming attacking midfielder. Is this yet another tactical invention from the mind of Guardiola?!"
Ally McCoist: "It seems so, Clive. Without using a traditional dual-winger setup like Leroy Sané or Riyad Mahrez, Manchester City's 4-3-3 formation has a noticeable, deliberate imbalance. Bernardo Silva's versatility is the absolute key element that balances their possession-based play with lethal attacking penetration."
While Manchester City's attacking resources visibly concentrated heavily on the right flank to overload Shaw, De Bruyne quietly made a darting diagonal run into the left half-space.
N'Golo Kante, noticing the Belgian's ghosting movement, quickly shouted a warning to his defense.
"Watch out for the runner on the left!"
But Manchester United's defensive line had already begun to shift heavily to the right to deal with Bernardo Silva.
Silva seized the moment of hesitation perfectly and played a disguised horizontal pass to De Bruyne.
As one of the best playmakers in world football, De Bruyne seemed to possess a bird's-eye view cheat code.
Before even making the next pass, he appeared to have already converted the shifting positions of the defending players and Raheem Sterling's running trajectory into exact spatial coordinates, instantly calculating the only viable passing route!
His body leaned slightly, and with a sharp thwack, he delivered a first-time pass!
The ball traced a precise, low-driven curved trajectory, slipping miraculously through the almost imperceptible gap between Nemanja Matic, David Luiz, and Antonio Valencia!
It was like a sharp surgeon's scalpel slicing through tissue.
Even though David Luiz had brilliantly anticipated De Bruyne's intention and slid to intercept, he couldn't reach that "centimeter-perfect" pass despite his best efforts.
This was the exquisite, undeniable art of passing!
While Raheem Sterling is often heavily criticized by pundits for wasting golden chances, the vital prerequisite is that his movement always finds those opportunities.
The ball arrived beautifully just as the player did!
Before Sterling could even process the magnitude of the moment, he saw David De Gea rushing out furiously to close the angle.
As the distance between the two rapidly closed, Sterling inexplicably felt a bit flustered by the pressure and instinctively poked the ball forward with a toe.
Clive Tyldesley: "De Bruyne finds Sterling! He's in! De Gea rushes out!"
Ally McCoist: "Sterling pokes it! It's scruffy, he's barely made proper contact, but it's bobbling past the keeper!"
Clive Tyldesley: "Maguire slides in! A desperate, last-ditch attempt to clear it off the line! But he can't get there! It's in! In the eighth minute of the final, Manchester City draw first blood!"
1-0 to Manchester City!
Ally McCoist: "Kevin De Bruyne just unlocked that entire defense with one swing of his right boot, Clive. Facing Manchester United's compact, disciplined defense, he surprised everyone with a clever, defense-splitting pass that mere mortals simply don't see!"
The entire stadium was electrified by that singular pass!
Unlike Ling's powerfully impactful, brutal dribbles, De Bruyne's assist was filled with a unique, breathtaking beauty of rationality and geometry.
After scoring, Sterling excitedly sprinted to the corner flag and slid on his knees in wild celebration, while De Bruyne merely jogged over, looking entirely unfazed and poked his teammate playfully a few times.
"Truly a Noisy neighbor Level celebration," Ling muttered sarcastically upon seeing the muted reaction from the assister.
To be honest, he had expected Manchester City to score eventually given their quality, but certainly not this early in a cup final.
However, the green pitch is always full of cruel surprises.
Sometimes, only by facing a stronger, elite opponent can a team unleash their absolute full potential, just like in last season's Champions League final against Real Madrid.
"It's fine!" Ling patted De Gea on the shoulder as the keeper retrieved the ball from the net.
"Falling behind should be quite common for us by now, right? We just need to come back!"
He didn't offer any long, drawn-out words of encouragement, he preferred to prove his leadership through actions.
"No comeback, no Red Devils!" Maguire yelled, clapping his hands.
The big defender wasn't disheartened by the conceded goal, on the contrary, his expression was filled with fierce excitement.
Having witnessed the miracle at the Kyiv Olympic Stadium last season from the outside, he deeply regretted not being part of it.
So now, just the thought of having a chance to recreate that dramatic feeling made his blood boil.
"No need to pump up Big Head with motivation anymore," Ling praised with a click of his tongue, jogging past Matic, "because this guy can clearly hype himself up."
Valencia didn't say anything more after hearing this.
In truth, the veteran captain had noticed Sterling's dangerous movement earlier, but the kid ran faster than a dinosaur, leaving the aging full-back absolutely no chance to chase back and defend the pass.
Nevertheless, Valencia raised his vigilance to the absolute highest level, ready to use a cynical tactical foul to stop Sterling at any moment if needed.
The gloom within the Manchester United squad dissipated considerably.
After all, they were all elite professional footballers with excellent self-adjustment abilities under Mourinho.
If they lost their fighting spirit after conceding just one early goal, many matches wouldn't even be worth playing.
...
Soon, everyone returned to their positions for the restart.
At this moment, the scene off the pitch in the technical areas was even livelier than on it.
Guardiola usually liked to maintain a calm, professorial demeanor after scoring, but today, he was unusually animated, clenching his fists and waving them wildly at his bench.
If not for his gleaming bald head, casual observers might have mistaken his passionate celebration for Mourinho's.
"A precise long-range switch in the attacking third to completely tear apart Manchester United's tight defense—only Kevin could pull that off!" Mikel Arteta, (The Goat) praised his boss.
Sterling not only provided vertical impact and the ability to break down defenses with runs in behind, but his positioning also allowed Sergio Aguero to operate more centrally, leveraging the Argentine's strengths in off-the-ball movement and creating space.
This highly asymmetrical attacking approach of "solid left, fluid right" was currently Manchester City's most effective, unplayable offensive pattern.
"Boss, after adjusting this system for most of the season, we're finally seeing the ultimate results," Arteta smiled.
He could already see the dawn of victory.
"Don't celebrate too soon, Mikel. The match has only just begun," Guardiola shook his head rapidly, quickly calming down.
"I guarantee he must have made targeted adjustments as well."
As former close partners at Barcelona, Pep knew Mourinho all too well, especially the "Special One" after he had seemingly regained his dark magic at Old Trafford.
Mourinho's in-game tactical micro-adjustments ranked among the absolute best in Europe, coupled with Manchester United's highly aggressive, lethal front line.
Moreover, Guardiola knew that as long as Ling could successfully suppress Manchester City's right flank by pinning Walker back, it would be difficult for City to replicate the exact same play, and even De Bruyne would eventually be contained.
'But the premise is that you can actually do it,' Guardiola thought, staring intensely at the figure of Manchester United's number 7.
A hint of nervous anticipation flickered in his eyes.
Next to him, Mourinho withdrew his gaze from Guardiola and said solemnly to Rui Faria, "Continue to increase the frequency of high, direct balls into the attacking third. First, seize opportunities for knock-down headers, and second, make full use of the second ball."
Compared to Manchester City's diminutive technical players, Manchester United possessed a clear, massive height advantage across the pitch.
Therefore, physical aerial battles were the absolute easiest way to bypass City's press and create chaos.
The two full-backs, Ashley Young and Valencia, were also selected to start precisely for their ability to deliver early, whipping crosses from the flanks.
As for utilizing the second ball? With the three central midfielders—Matic, Pogba, and Jeremy Ling (cutting inside)—all possessing strong, accurate long-range shooting abilities, this also served as an incredibly effective way to score from knockdowns.
In summary, the plan was about ruthlessly exploiting Manchester City's height disadvantage to build a diversified, physical attack.