Even now, after all the money spent, the trophies that have already been stacked up in the years of Abu Dhabi ownership and all the A-grade footballers who have pulled on the club's colours, there are still moments that must feel new to the modern-day Manchester City.

One of them came at Madrid airport when the crowd of photographers waiting for Manuel Pellegini and his players supplied the hard evidence that City have reached a level of competition they have not experienced before. The scrum was frantic enough for one cameramen to be sent sprawling into the road, enduring a near-trampling in the process.

Important matches

Perhaps it was a little unfortunate for City that they set off for one of the more important matches of their new era with England’s media more occupied by the story of Leicester City. Yet the prize is still enormous in the Santiago Bernabéu tonight and it was certainly a relaxed party arriving in the Spanish capital. The club had deliberately opened up their flight to the players’ wives and children. Six members of the women’s team were there to support everyone. The idea, one City official said, was to provide a united front.

They will need the same on the pitch given that Madrid's aggregate score from their previous five Champions League ties at their own ground is 18-0 and particularly now that it seems Cristiano Ronaldo will be a definite starter.

Pellegrini tried to play down Ronaldo’s improvement, trotting out the line Madrid could never be just a one-man team, but it does make City’s task more treacherous and, if they are to stand any chance, it will need them to put into place everything they have learned during their previous European assignments.

On that count, there is at least the feeling that the team do finally feel at ease in these kind of surroundings. Far too often, the sides put out by Pellegrini, and previously Roberto Mancini, have looked unsure of themselves in this competition. Yet Pellegrini made the point that something had changed with their quarter-final defeat of Paris Saint-Germain. Psychologically, it was a crucial breakthrough.

“I think we’ve learned from our mistakes in the past,” their midfielder, Fernandinho, said. “This year the team has understood how to play in the Champions League. It was about having a more cohesive team, a more compact team that doesn’t give the opponent as many scoring opportunities.

“When you’ve done something wrong you try not to make the same mistake again, and whatever you’ve done well you try to do again. . You can see the difference from the last two years to this year.”

They will need to use all that knowledge if they are to see off the 10-times winners and, more than anything, they may also need Sergio Agüero to remind everyone why Pellegrini says there is no one bar Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who deserves to be called superior footballers.

Agüero’s failure to register a shot on target in City’s past four Champions League assignments (despite having a penalty in one of those games) certainly feels incongruous to everything the Argentinian has shown in his five seasons at the club.

Higher calibre

Yet it is a fact only four of his 23 Premier League goals this season have come against top-eight sides and he has been strangely subdued, particularly in the goalless first leg against Madrid, when they faced opponents of a higher calibre.

He is far too accomplished for Pellegrini to start doubting him but City’s manager did make the point this would be a good time for Agüero to blow away even the merest suggestion of flat-track bullying.

“I always say the big games are decided by the best technical players,” Pellegrini said. “I hope we will see Sergio put in a good performance.

“We are going to need a very good performance if we want to reach the final.”

Zinedine Zidane said that not reaching the Champions League final would represent a "failure".

“This will be very, very, very difficult. It will not be like the last game against Wolfsburg: we won’t score two goals in 15 minutes. We will suffer for 90 minutes . . or 120,” he said.

Zidane said Ronaldo had taken a full part in training.

Cristiano is fine, 100 per cent. He will be there [on Wednesday night],” he said.

Guardian Service