Hart stars as Manchester City hold Real Madrid to goalless draw

In the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, City and Real Madrid shared an absolute stinker of a goalless draw that will satisfy and worry both teams.

City will be glad not to have conceded an away goal but regret not winning their home leg; Madrid will be wary of coming home without an away goal, but confident of winning at home.

The first half was quite simply abysmal, devoid of imagination, inspiration and intensity; during it, neither side so much as contemplated scoring, let alone looked likely to.

[BEST TWEETS: Thank goodness for Zidane ripping his trousers]

Then, at half-time, Zinedine Zidane replaced Karim Benzema with Jese, moving Gareth Bale into the middle, and Madrid improved slightly, looking the likelier scorers.

But their best chances still came from set-pieces - Joe Hart foiled them with one excellent and one fantastic save - which says everything about a quite frankly terrible game.

On the plus side, the return leg on May 8 simply must be better - Ronaldo will be back, for one thing.

Did Zidane sell Real short? Real Madrid have a proud history of attacking football - managers have been sacked for not adhering to it - and you can only imagine the white hankies had Rafael Benitez sent his players out with as defensive mindset as imposed by Zinedine Zidane at the Etihad. He has the political capital to escape censure, but the populace might be less forgiving should City take advantage of a defence that remains dodgy, and score and away goal.

Only one candidate for this: Joe Hart. City's goalkeeper made two fine saves when Madrid threatened that more or less kept them in the tie, while no one else did very much at all.

Manchester City: Hart 9, Sagna 6, Kompany 7, Otamendi 7, Clichy 6, Fernando 6, Fernandinho 7, Navas 5, Silva 5, De Bruyne 6, Aguero5. Subs: Sterling 5, Iheanacho 5.

Real Madrid: Keylor Navas 6, Carvajal 7, Pepe 7, Sergio Ramos 7, Marcelo 6, Casemiro 7, Kroos 5, Modric 5, Bale 6, Lucas Vázquez 5, Benzema 4. Subs: Jesé 6, Isco 6.

53 - Couple of alright minutes for Madrid and Kompany eases studs into Achilles - Jese's Achilles - giving Madrid a free-kick close to the left corner of the box. Kroos whips it towards the near post, Kompany misheads behind, and at last, a chance! Ramos is up at the near post - a bit too early, in the end - and, completely unmarked, sends a header into the arms of Hart.

71 - City box Madrid in the right corner of their own half, but Modric, Kroos and Carvajal combine superbly to escape. Madrid build an attack, and eventually Carvajal's cross from the right finds Jese at the near post - he flicks his neck hard, and loops a header that clips the bar. Had it not, Hart was there in plenty of time to tip over.

78 - Bale spins superbly and loses Kompany 30 yards from goal; he's summarily dragged down. But to Zidane's chagrin - now there's an unlikely rhyme for you - the ref says no free-kick. Madrid, though, force a corner from the left which picks out Casemiro, who's flicked header towards the near post is very well saved by Hart's trailing leg.

81 - Madrid win a free-kick just outside the box, left corner, and Bale, Ramos and Kroos wait. Bale it is who advances and cracks into Kompany's ubiquitous forehead. This earns a corner, and after a near-post kerfuffle, the ball breaks to Pepe, four yards out, dead centre. He immediately imparts laces, but right at the diving Hart - and that's a brilliant save.