The City manager made several bold tactical changes for the first leg, returning Nico O’Reilly to left-back and starting Jeremy Doku and Savinho on the wings, as well as Antoine Semenyo, who played up front alongside Erling Haaland.
With four attacking players on the pitch, Bernardo Silva and Rodri were left exposed in the centre, as were a back four who could not cope once Madrid burst through midfield.
Add to those structural issues an inspired performance from the unstoppable Federico Valverde, and there is logic to the result.
More generally speaking, there is a case that City are contending with different physical challenges this season, something that could be behind second-half slumps and sluggishness without the ball.
Using SkillCorner data (above, as of March 13), we can see City generally resisted the shift towards transitional, end-to-end football in the Premier League, persisting with their high-possession approach until their lack of athleticism in midfield was ruthlessly exposed last year.
Summer additions and a stylistic shift mean that City, on average, are sprinting around 17.6 per cent more in 2025-26 than they were last campaign.
That marks a big jump which is sure to have an effect on some of those players who maybe aren’t used to covering such distances at top speed.