Ramos absence

Zinedine Zidane's side are clearly a rejuvenated team and will fancy their chances of overhauling the deficit and progressing to the new eight-team tournament in Portugal that will now decide the winner of this season's Champions League. City's form since the restart has been mixed by contrast, with some emphatic wins mixed with some frustrating losses. Key to Real's hopes will be how they have trained in the three weeks since their final LaLiga fixture, while City were last in action a fortnight ago. Real will also have to do it without the suspended Ramos, whose red card in the first leg was his 26th at the club.

Bale sidelined

Gareth Bale, who appeared as a substitute in the first leg, has become a peripheral figure at the Bernabeu. The Wales international has fallen so far out of favour under Zidane that he has featured just twice since the resumption and only made the starting line-up once. In one of the games in which he was an unused substitute he courted controversy by pretending to fall asleep. He seemed to feature only on the edges of trophy celebrations when LaLiga success was confirmed. His future is uncertain but, with two years remaining on his contract, the £85.3million signing does not appear to be pushing for a move.

Pedigree and Zidane's golden touch

There is no denying Real Madrid's formidable pedigree in Europe. The Spanish giants are record 13-time winners of the continent's top club competition and this season represents their 50th European campaign, more than any other club. They are bidding for a fifth title in seven years and a fourth in a row under Zidane. The 2018-19 season – when Zidane had a brief spell away from the club before returning after they had been knocked out by Ajax at the last-16 stage – was the first since 2009-10 in which Real failed to at least reach the semi-finals. The Frenchman has never failed to win the competition as Los Blancos manager.