Federico Valverde runs the show for Real Madrid against Manchester City

Real Madrid hosted Manchester City on Wednesday evening, with the two teams facing each other yet again in the Champions League.

The Madridistas went into the home game with a depleted squad, seeing the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, David Alaba, Alvaro Carreras, Dani Ceballos, Éder Militão and Rodrygo all absent.

City's Champions League squad was strengthened, with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi both being added to their squad.

Despite Real Madrid's squad being depleted and City's being strengthened, the hosts were the much better side in the first leg.

Federico Valverde opened the scoring in the 20th-minute, as he latched onto the end of a long ball forward from Thibaut Courtois. The Uruguay international ran through on goal before rounding Gianluigi Donnarumma and slotting home into an open goal.

Seven minutes later, Valverde scored his second of the game. He struck low with his left foot, beating City's goalkeeper, and doubled Real Madrid's advantage.

Three minutes before half-time, the Madridistas had a third, and it was courtesy of Valverde.

The versatile 27-year-old found himself in behind before he lifted the ball over Marc Guéhi, then shot on the volley past Donnarumma.

In the second half, Vinicius Junior was brought down by City's keeper, and the hosts were given the chance to add a fourth to the game. Donnarumma dived low to his left and denied the Brazilian, giving City a slight bit of hope in the tie.

At full-time, the scoreline was 3-0 and Real Madrid are in pole position going into next week's clash at the Etihad Stadium.

City are not out of the tie completely, but they have a huge mountain to climb. Huge question marks will be placed over the performance in Spain, and personnel changes in the starting XI for next week's game have already been asked for by the club's fans.

For Real Madrid, Bellingham and Mbappé could return next week for the second leg to help strengthen the Madridistas' squad.