Modric, Casemiro and Kroos - Real's reliable trio who hold key to unlocking Man City

Six years ago, Manchester City hosted Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final. It marked a new frontier for City, the furthest they had reached at that stage of their rise in club football’s most prestigious competition.

Facing the most decorated club in European Cup history, there was some caution in the then manager Manuel Pellegrini’s approach.

He picked two holding midfielders, the Brazilians who always sounded like they ought to be a perfect complement, Fernando and Fernandinho. Kevin de Bruyne played just ahead of them.

No prizes for guessing who that trio were directly facing. Different head coaches at Madrid may come and go, but for high-stakes matches the automatic impulse, if every midfielder is fit, has been the same for half a dozen years: Luka Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos will patrol the middle of the pitch.

A Fernando own goal, deflecting a Gareth Bale shot, would decide that 2016 semi-final in the Spain leg, and usher Madrid to the second of what turned out to be four winning European Cup finals in the space of five seasons, and the first of three in which Kroos, Modric and Casemiro were all involved.

Kroos had joined the club in the summer of 2014, just after winning the World Cup with Germany; Casemiro had spent the 2014-15 season gaining experience with Porto, but once the trio were in harness they quickly established that their individual talents made for an excellent balance.

Kroos offered his dead-ball expertise, his sharp eye for a pass, Casemiro his fine positional sense, combative character and a rapidly developing instinct for where the fine line lies between a tackle that risks a yellow card and a challenge that will earn only a stern look from a referee.

Karim Benzema