The impending match between Manchester City and Real Madrid is poised to be an intense battle, with both teams displaying similar levels of performance. It's challenging to predict which team will advance to the next stage, given their current form. Manchester City, despite their formidable record last season, has not been performing at their peak, while Real Madrid's performance has also been lacking due to a shortage of strikers in their squad.
The managers of both teams are eager to secure victory in this season's Champions League, especially the Real Madrid coach, who may potentially depart from the club at the end of the campaign. However, it remains to be seen how they will fare in the first leg of the match. The outcome of this encounter will provide valuable insights into which team possesses the upper hand in the ongoing Champions League competition. The stakes are high, and fans around the world eagerly anticipate witnessing the drama unfold on the pitch as these two footballing giants clash in pursuit of European glory.
Madrid are doing well at the moment even though they don't have a pure striker so I think the reason Madrid are not very good without a pure striker in the squad has been broken by Madrid's good performance this season.
They are still going through matches well not only in the Champions League but also in the domestic league because until now in the domestic league Madrid has only lost once and for the Champions League from the group phase to the quarter-finals this time they haven't even lost once with statistics in 8 matches (including 2 leg round of 16) they managed to win 7 times and 1 draw so there is no reason to think Madrid is still bad without a pure striker.
Facing Manchester City will indeed be very difficult especially with the dark situation they got last season when at Etihad, so there is indeed a burden of its own but on the other hand Madrid if they really want to bring back the trophy then inevitably they must be able to beat Manchester City and hopefully the first leg at the Bernabeu goes well before they finally travel to Etihad stadium in the second leg.