Last season, Manchester City won over Real Madrid and went straightly to their fist Champions League title. It is their first title in history and in total Champions League titles, Manchester City can not compare to Real Madrid but in this season, they are defending their title and want to repeat success of Real Madrid. Defending a title in Champions League is very challenging task and in history, only Real Madrid succeeded so far.
Manchester City's first UEFA Champions League final was against Chelsea, and they lost to Chelsea. Last season, Manchester City was better than Real Madrid, which made Manchester City easily beat Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. Manchester City will find it difficult to win against Real Madrid in this season's UEFA Champions League because Real Madrid is more consistent than Manchester City this season.
You are correct, but when you examine both teams and conduct a thorough comparison, you will be able to conclude that they are not so far apart that one is clearly superior to the other in terms of strength and who will advance from this stage. Real Madrid and Manchester City have been identified as two of the top teams to win the title this season, but to our surprise, they must now face each other to determine who is the better team. To me, both can showcase their best in this match, and the better team will have success and will qualify for the next round of the competition, as I see them both on an even level.
I agree with you that Real Madrid and Manchester City are on the same level this season. If you look at Manchester City's recent performances in the Premier League, you will find out that if Haaland and Foden fail to score for Manchester City, they find it hard to win their match. I see this as an advantage for Real Madrid against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League competition because Real Madrid does not depend on any players to score goals.