But in this case, you should expect that City will once again be knocked out by some ordinary club and Real won’t even have to strain 
In general, it’s quite sad that everyone began (and probably rightly) to evaluate the Champions League as a tournament for a narrow group of clubs where the favorites are rated as 2.5-4.0. This says a lot about the predictability of the tournament. If I remember correctly, this season the NHL favorite was rated as 7.0. That is, in fact, many clubs had a chance to win and the whole tournament was interesting.
In general, it’s quite sad that everyone began (and probably rightly) to evaluate the Champions League as a tournament for a narrow group of clubs where the favorites are rated as 2.5-4.0. This says a lot about the predictability of the tournament. If I remember correctly, this season the NHL favorite was rated as 7.0. That is, in fact, many clubs had a chance to win and the whole tournament was interesting.
I'm in the same line of thoughts with you even though I cannot also rule out the fact that the big clubs are there to make their efforts too and they are also trained to take the trophy home. Nevertheless, narrowing down the predictions to only the big English or La Liga clubs is not just enough because if we were to follow the same line of thoughts, we would have written off clubs Like Dortmund which actually got to the final position against Madrid in the last season. So, Champions league should be bigger than those thoughts.
Over the past 20 years, not a single Champions League title has gone to a small or even medium-sized club. Only the top teams took part in the division: only 9 clubs received 20 titles. If we take away Real, the situation would look more diversified, but still, the last time a small club took the title was 21 years ago and it was Porto. Therefore, if you look at the situation objectively, in each season it is easy to assume that one of the top will take the title, and given the fact that some clubs are in crisis, for example Barcelona, the choice becomes even smaller.
Real Madrid is only interested in Champions league and that is why you see that is their main focus and they know the right strategy in which they can use to win it most times. This is the reason why they always go for the best players a d coaches so that their chance of winning it will be higher than other clubs.