Even Manchester City players are admitting that they shouldn't be playing Real Madrid this week.

"We should be getting into the next round more convincingly and not find ourselves in a play-off against Real Madrid," said Savinho, who offered the same criticism of the Champions League holders who struggled, like City in the revamped League Phase.

City's issues stem from Rodri's injury in September and spiralling injury crisis from that point that has left their Premier League title defence in tatters. Champions League progress was secured by the skin of their teeth and the reward is the side who beat them en-route to the 2022 and 2024 finals.

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Madrid's problems are harder to pinpoint, although they have injury troubles of their own ahead of another trip to Manchester. They celebrated their penalty shoot-out win at the Etihad wildly last season, having been embarrassed there 12 months earlier.

That 4-0 dismantling is one of the iconic Champions League performances of all time from City. Federico Valverde said the Etihad atmosphere made it the most difficult stadium he has played in.

"Their fans and the way they play, all difficult," he said famously. A Spanish sports paper noted: “The atmosphere was the harshest Real Madrid encountered in many years. A complete trap.”

Not only does that shatter those lazy stereotypes of the Etihad, but show what an asset the fans can be. Pep Guardiola calls upon fans to help City in tough situations in every one of his programme notes at home. It will be particularly needed this week as City continue to search for consistency in a difficult season.

Real will be City's toughest test yet and the Blues haven't always passed these difficult days this season. Big defeats to Tottenham, Arsenal and Sporting come to mind, as do losses to United and Liverpool.

So the fans will be invaluable this week, and they won't need any reminders to respond.

The problem is, there is an ongoing dispute between fan groups and the club over ticket pricing, criteria for European games, and general treatment of long-term supporters. Fans have also made their feelings clear over season ticket plans for the North Stand expansion and have backed the 'Stop Exploiting Loyalty' campaign from the Football Supporters' Association.

A collaboration of fan groups last week wrote to chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak saying supporters are becoming 'priced out' of season tickets at City.

They wrote: "By making it practically impossible to obtain a standard season ticket, ticketing policy decision makers at Manchester City are severing the generational link between fans and their club."

City Matters, the club's elected fan group, have outlined their own season ticket proposals in meetings in September and December, calling for prices to be frozen or reduced for 2025/26. They also contacted the club to ensure ticketing criteria vs Real Madrid replicated last year's clash vs the same opposition rather than previous European games which have resulted in regulars being unable to buy tickets.

Champions League games by their nature see more tourists attend the Etihad as season ticket holders may pick and choose games that come at an extra cost, sometimes to the detriment of the atmosphere in group stage games especially.

It wasn't the case last season against Madrid, nor the year before when Valverde felt the true power of the Etihad. City know that their fans will back the team this week to try and take a result to the Bernabeu. After all, if you can't get up for Real Madrid, when can you?

After that, discussion is needed to ensure club and supporters are on the same page in future.