For the fifth season in succession, Pep Guardiola’s side have been tasked with tackling the 15-times European champions.
Last term, it was the Spaniards who prevailed, securing a 6-3 aggregate win to knock the Blues out in a last-16 knockout phase play-off.
This time round however it’s a different looking City that will step out at the Bernabeu for the sixth game in our 2025/26 UCL league phase.
City will kick-off in the Spanish capital on the back of three straight wins in the Premier League as well as sitting in the top ten in the UCL composite table.
And for captain Bernardo, he says the signs looking both to tomorrow and the rest of the season are highly encouraging.
“The team has been growing a lot since [the start of the season]. We’re improving day by day,” said the Portuguese midfielder.
“It’s true that our teams have always been much better in the second part of the season than the first and hopefully it happens again this season.
“I don’t think we’re having a bad season, but I think in some games we didn’t perform as well as we should.
“We’re definitely hoping to arrive in the last stages with a team that is much better than it was in August and where we are right now.
“We’re playing much better than in the first month before the first international break.
“In the first month, we beat Wolves and then lost to Brighton and Spurs in performances that were not acceptable at our level.
“When you go to the first international break with one win and two losses, that means you’re not at the Man City level.
“Now we’re two points away from Arsenal [in the Premier League], we are in good position in the UEFA Champions League, and the team is performing well.
“If you look at the last two months, I would say that points wise, it has been really good.”
With a number of new players having joined the Club over the past 10 months, it means it will be a very different squad that manager Pep Guardiola selects from tomorrow compared to our last trip here in February.
Bernardo has been one of the constants during that City evolution and he says the challenge of tackling the Spanish giants in Madrid is one that every City player will savour.
“The club made the decision to change a lot of players and give a new dynamic,” Bernardo added.
“It’s a different team, full of potential, full of energy.
“We’re looking forward to a tough game.
“We know how difficult it is to come here to the Bernabeu. The feeling has been good this season, even when the results weren’t as good as performances.
“We’re very excited and looking forward to tomorrow. It’s a good test.”
Real Madrid v city app coverage
Our Official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action in one place.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 18:45 (UK).
Natalie Pike will be joined by Michael Brown and Steph Houghton in the studio as they offer their expert insight before, during and after the action.
During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Steve Howey, while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
We’ll have a quick-hit 2-minute highlights package available from Midnight (UK) on Wednesday which is available globally from 19:00 (UK) on Thursday.
On CITY+ meanwhile, from Midnight (UK) on Wednesday and 19:00 (UK) Thursday there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights offering which features the best 20 minutes of action from the game.
