REAL MADRID STILL UTTERLY RELIANT ON RONALDO

All mouth and no trousers. For the second champions League game in a row, the world got a glimpse of Zinedine Zidane 's undergarments. But while "pants" may be a harsh appraisal of his side's showing on Tuesday, Real Madrid looked less than the complete package without their famous underwear model in the team.

With Cristiano Ronaldo ruled out before kick-off and not even named on the bench, Zidane picked Lucas Vazquez in attack alongside Gareth Bale and Karim
Benzema. Defensively, it may have helped as Madrid struggled to cope with Manchester City's intensity in the first half. But in attack, the Portuguese was
sorely missed.

Without Ronaldo's amazing ambition, his constant movement and his insatiable desire to find spaces and score, Madrid created little until a late onslaught almost brought a vital away goal. Cristiano's presence in this team represents not only a guarantee going forward, but also gives them a psychological lift.

Instead, Zidane saw his trousers rip for the second European game in a row. But without Ronaldo, there were no goals to celebrate this time. The last time it
had happened, of course, was in the 3-0 win over Wolfsburg that saw Real overturn the 2-0 deficit from the first fixture in Germany to advance to the last four of this competition.

Clearly wary of a repeat of that debacle in Germany, Zidane set up a much tighter team in this one and after a first half in which there were no clear chances for either side despite City's dominance in midfield, Real regained control of the central areas in the second period and looked more likely to score. Bale came close with a curled effort, Jese headed against the bar and Pepe was denied from point-blank range by the excellent Joe Hart. City, in fact, we're all Hart and not much soul. Madrid, meanwhile, should have won the game in the latter stages and with Ronaldo, they probably would have.

"It's a good result," Zidane said after the game. "We fought and it was a difficult match. We played a good game for the 90 minutes, although we were better in the second half."

In tight matches like this one, the presence of a great goalscorer can often make the difference and Zidane will now be crossing his fingers that Ronaldo
will be back for the second leg - and also as soon as possible for the run-in in La Liga - along with Benzema who went off injured at the break. Cristiano felt some pain after the training session and that's why he didn't play," Zidane said. "Karim's case is different, but he was feeling worse as the game went on. We didn't want to risk. I hope they are back for the return leg."

So will Madrid fans. At home, Zidane's side will be favourites to progress to the final in Milan next month and a fit and firing Ronaldo will lift the entire
team, the fans and everyone else. Without him, City will fancy their chances of an upset - especially as a score draw would see them advance to the San Siro
showpiece.

Time will tell how serious the Portuguese's problem turns out to be. But an injury now is a huge blow to Madrid's hopes of silverware in the remainder of
the season. "He wasn't comfortable and that's that," Zidane added. "Now we have to think about the day to day and about getting him back as soon as possible."

And asked about the split in his clothes, he said: "That's right. Nevermind. "Exactly. Changing your trousers is easy enough, of course. But on Wednesday's evidence, replacing Ronaldo is not.