The Champions League hasn't started yet, how can you say Real Madrid and Man City won't meet before reaching the final? Indeed, most people think that it is better for them to meet in the final because they have almost equal performance so they don't eliminate each other in the quarter-finals or semifinals. That makes the competition very tense if it happens in the final between Man City and Real Madrid, but don't forget about Bayern Munich, the club. This is also still a title contender in the UCL.
Not only do we think that Man City and Madrid are the strongest in the UCL, it feels unfair to clubs like Bayern Munich, Milan, Inter Milan and Dortmund which are a club that reached the final last season, we also need to give these clubs the opportunity to provide fierce competition at UCL.
The Champions League of course hasn't started yet and we don't know whether Madrid and Manchester City will meet again in the final or like this season they will meet earlier, but if you look at the change in the format of the Champions League next season which will be in the form of a semi-league, it is most likely in my opinion Manchester City and Madrid will meet again early, because when I look at the aim of changing the format and distribution of pots for the Champions League next season of course the composition of opponents will be adjusted according to each pot, meaning that it is very likely that madrid will meet strong teams and the teams have coefficient is higher from pots 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The new format that is planned for next season seems to have the potential for us to see that strong teams will be able to compete more closely, especially since there will be additional teams and the number of matches played in the future, apart from Madrid and Manchester City, of course we cannot rule out other teams in champions league, because others teams will rise next season because most of the teams you mentioned are also starting to plan significant improvements by bringing in great coach and also good players nowaday.