The decline in Man City's team performance cannot be separated from the injuries of several important players in the squad and also cannot be separated from De Bruyne's performance who has experienced a decline in performance as a field general. In the last two matches, they have started to find their best form, although they may not be consistent in the future, but this should be the first step for them to fix all the shortcomings that have occurred this season, both in the Champions League and in the Premier League.
Erling Haaland is starting to have difficulty scoring goals because De Bruyne's performance may have declined slightly, resulting in the flow of the ball for Erling Haaland stopping. But when facing West Ham, he managed to score two goals for Man City's victory and hopefully this will be a turning point for him and the team.
Rodri's injury was the main setback that affected Manchester City. Pep Guardiola has a culture of working with few players and this has affected their performance since some key players sustained injuries or started experiencing performance decline. The club seems to have started recovering but we hope this winning run will be consistent.
Looking at Real Madrid's current performance I agree with you that we cannot favor Real Madrid in every match. Real Madrid is inconsistent this season but in La Liga their performance is not that bad. They are still consistent in the top ranking with only 2 defeats. But their performance is indeed inconsistent in UCL with 3 wins and 3 defeats. They are in 20th place in UCL and their position can be taken by any team in the ranking below them. The difference in points in the UCL standings is very thin with only 1 or 2 points. But if you look at Real Madrid's mentality I am sure they will qualify for the next round even through the playoffs. I think we have often seen Real Madrid make an extraordinary comeback like in the match against Valencia.
It will be tough for Real Madrid to get one of the eight automatic qualification slots for the UCL rounds of sixteen. It will solely be determined by the outcome of the games by other clubs who are on top of Los Blancos on the table. But they can secure it if they win the remaining two games between them and Salzburg and Stade Brest 29. If they are lucky enough, they might make it, if not they would have to go through another qualification round. Real have a good team but the three losses lately in the competition due to injured players really hampered the progress of the club.