Zinedine Zidane likes to think that he does an OK job of concealing his emotions as a manager. Back when he was working as coach of Real Madrid’s reserve team, Castilla, he got into a discussion with one reporter about the importance of transmitting a sense of serenity to your players.

Not that he always succeeded. "Sometimes," he admitted. "You can see the tension in my eyes."

Nowadays, it would appear that you can gauge Zidane’s state of mind more accurately from the state of his trousers. He tore them badly during the second leg of Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final against Wolfsburg, displaying his backside to the crowd as he swiveled on the sideline.

And he did it again on Tuesday as his team drew away to Manchester City.

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Time to find a new tailor, perhaps? Certainly nobody is about to suggest that Zidane find himself a new profession. The Frenchman took his time in coming back to football after he retired from playing, but did so out of a genuine and irrepressible love for the game. If his results with Castilla were mixed, those with the senior team so far have been encouraging.

Madrid was four points off the top of La Liga when Zidane took over from Rafa Benitez in January, and now that gap is down to one. Not a drastic turnaround, but a small step in the right direction - especially when viewed in the context of the club’s continued involvement in the Champions League.

A cynic might ask how hard it really is to get the best out of a team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo. Zidane might even share their perspective. He has left no doubts as to his opinion that the Portuguese is the best player on the planet.

But what about those occasions when Ronaldo is absent? The question hung in the air before kick-off at Etihad Stadium. Ronaldo, who missed Madrid’s win over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend with a thigh injury, had travelled with his team-mates to Manchester but failed to make it through a late fitness test.

Madrid was hardly scraping around for players. The club's starting XI still boasted one £80-million forward in Gareth Bale, not to mention the likes of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. But Ronaldo’s absence was not to be underestimated either.

He had scored 16 of Madrid’s 26 goals in the Champions League this season. He had put more shots on target in this competition than Leo Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic combined.

It was hard not to laugh when the TV cameras cut to Ronaldo on the Madrid bench, clad in an ostentatious pair of headphones and clutching a phone which showed an Instagram picture of himself.

But for all his ostentatious preening, the Portuguese does not score all these goals by accident. He has worked ceaselessly to make himself into the player he is today.

Likewise Zidane, who was blessed with an extraordinary natural talent but might never have made it out of his Marseilles suburb were those gifts not allied to an equally impressive work ethic. It was this, more than anything, that he hoped to transfer to his players when he took over at Madrid.

"Mental strength counts for 80-90 percent," he told the Mexican newspaper Record. "It’s difficult to keep your feet on the ground when everyone around you is saying, 'you’re beautiful, you have money now'. I tell my players, 'all this will be over in the space of 10 years. To play for Real is a dream, we are fortunate to be at this club and we must be aware of that fact.'"

No doubt, his experience on that front has been helpful. But what impressed on Wednesday was how Zidane has matured also as a tactician. In each of the last two Champions League rounds, his team was guilty of playing too fast and too loose, gifting too many cheap scoring opportunities to Roma and Wolfsburg.

Zidane, @realmadriden: "We deserved more tonight but I am very happy with how we defended." #UCL pic.twitter.com/43oNhZa5or — Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 26, 2016

Only woeful finishing from the Italian side, and an inspired second-leg display from Ronaldo against the Germans, kept Madrid in this competition. A similarly generous display in Manchester, without the three-time Ballon d’Or winner to bail them out, could only have ended in disaster.

But that is not what transpired.

Instead, Madrid was compact and disciplined against City. Despite a combative start from the hosts, and some direct and brilliant running from Kevin De Bruyne, Madrid gave up just two shots on target in 90 minutes.

Zidane has stated before his belief that teams should aspire play smarter, not harder than the opposition, observing that: "the best way to avoid needing to run too much is to keep the ball." Those words rang true as City’s all-action midfield crashed and broke on the calm, ball-hogging control of Modric, Kroos and Casemiro.

Madrid did not force the issue in the first-half, but instead waited for its opponent to tire in the second before pushing on in pursuit of a winner. Had Pepe not fired straight at Joe Hart from close range after Bale’s flick-on in the 82nd minute, this tie would already be tilting heavily in the Spanish club's direction.

As it is, Madrid still finds itself in the stronger position. Madrid might not have mustered an away goal, but Los Blancos return home knowing that any win will suffice at the Bernabeu.

With luck they might have Ronaldo available for that match. And if nothing else, Zidane should at least have a fresh pair of trousers.