Without first choice forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema real madrid got a valuable away poit at Manchester City in a very tight game.  In a  game marked by strategy rather than passion Real Madrid came the closest to scoring with 20 minutes remaining when a header by substitute Jese hit the bar.

Madrid finished much the stronger here. A corner from the right after 79 minutes picked out Brazilian defensive screen Casemiro,  but his header was superbly stopped by Joe Hart, with his feet, in the manner of David de Gea. A free-kick for Madrid on the edge of the area a minute later also looked dangerous but Gareth Bale blasted it tamely into the wall.
From the corner, Hart was forced into the save of the night. The corner was headed on by Bale, it fell to Pepe in so much space he was initially presumed offside. A flag went up, then down, and in that split Hart threw himself at the ball, making a vital save as he smothered Pepe’s shot.

Sergio Aguero (centre), who used to play for Real Madrid’s rivals Atletico Madrid, lifts his

Real Madrid forward Bale watches on as his left-footed strike curls just wide of Hart’s Manchester City goal during the second half

So City have at least a puncher’s chance in the Bernabeu next Wednesday. Score and Madrid will need two. So this was far from a poor result. It was, however, a missed opportunity. This was Madrid at their least potent, yet they came through with barely a scratch. City have to find a way of putting Madrid under at least as much pressure as the seat of Zidane’s trousers.

The visitors did not offer much. It was obvious Ronaldo was sorely missed by his side, he is indeed very influential for Madrid on big game nights like this. He has played 36 of the last 37 games in Europe, and the one time he sat out previously, his team went down 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund. without Ronaldo they are missing quite a lot of their fear factor. Ronaldo destroyed Wolfsburg in the previous round, and obviously could have done the same here. He sat on the sidelines, almost distracted. Madrid offered little without him, too, Hart untroubled in the first 45 minutes, Madrid’s routes to goal pedestrian aside from the odd spark of invention from Modric.

City captain Vicent kompany marking Real Madrid winger Garet Bale

Not that City dazzled. Kevin De Bruyne is the key to it these days and he saw plenty of the ball but to little effect. In the 23rd minute, he found Aguero who completed a neat turn to take up a good position, but Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas read it well, and kicked clear.
A minute later Pepe was rightly booked for a spectacularly late and rash challenge on De Bruyne, and howls of outrage greeted a lunge by Sergio Ramos that took out Fernandinho soon after. He certainly made contact on his follow through, but replays showed he had taken the ball cleanly first and referee Cuneyt Cakir was right to take no further action against the player.
It wasn’t a dirty game although, before his disappearance, Silva did manage to get booked for a needless foul on Bale. Like the game in the first-half at least, he wasn’t really going anywhere at the time.