After a three week break the UEFA Fantasy Champions League game has returned for our budding crop of European Fantasy managers. Ahead of Matchday Three we’ve got another batch of players on the Scout Watchlist as we look to get a jump on the continent…
With the second of their two very tantalising home fixtures (this one at home to BATE Borisov) taking place on Wednesday evening, AC Milan’s Christian Abbiati kicks off our choices for the not unreasonable sum of 6.0. If even that level of outlay is too much then the 4.5 required for CSKA keeper Vladimir Gabulov may be suitable for budget considerations.
Barcelona are playing at home to Viktoria Plzen. This is reason alone why we’ll be backing Dani Alves, the most expensive defender in the game, to profit as he spends 90 minutes bombing up and down the right wing at Camp Nou tomorrow.
A pair of UK-based attacking full-backs get the next spot on our coach trip around Europe. Jose Bosingwa (6.5) and Aleksander Kolarov (6.0) find themselves called upon to don their cleanest kits for Matchday Three. Both players carry a risk of rotation,though, with their managers having more than an option or two to choose from but, nevertheless, we’ll run the gauntlet and hope to see some attacking verve at home to Genk and Villarreal.
With Thiago Silva‘s injury doubt** completely flying over my head (Thanks Granville) a bit of quick thinking sees us drop the double confidence in the Milan defence and expect David Luiz to be given the European games another of his mad cap performances at Stamford Bridge tonight.
**Although Silva was subbed off just after half an hour in the 3-0 win over Palermo, the usually reliable Rossonerri Blog has indicated it was just a precaution and was nothing more than slight bruising, with the Brazilian expected to play tomorrow. Alternatively, if you’re still looking for Milan defenders, Alessandro Nesta is 6.0.
Balancing the books with our final defender we opt to keep eyes on Domagoj Vida of Dinamo Zagreb. If the Croatian side are going to continue their European adventure, even if it’s just by finishing third and moving to the Europa League, then a victory at home to Ajax is a must. At the cheapest price available (4.0) and with four “recovered ball” bonus points already picked up, you could do worse.
After going to the trouble of writing up a Scout Report on FC Porto last week it’s altogether not very surprising that I’ve included a player or two from the Portuguese champions in our Watchlist. James Rodriguez is a bargain at 6.5m playing in the Porto front three and with a game at home to APOEL, offers plenty opportunity for points.
Russian youngster Alan Dzagoez should have a bright future ahead of him but, more importantly, the 6.1 midfielder will hopefully have a more successful immediate future as CSKA play host Trabzonspor in just a couple of hour’s time.
After serving the final two games of his suspension, Xherdan Shaqiri is finally available as an option for European Fantasy managers to invest in. Fabian Frei has been reveling in his absence, but we’re expecting the Swiss starlet (a mere 4.5 in price) to prosper as Basel play host to Benfica.
At the weekend we saw Everton manager David Moyes espouse hard about some of our Spanish imports…
“They have added a couple of new dimensions to the way they play and, for me, Juan Mata is the biggest difference I see in Chelsea. He is probably as close to David Silva as I have seen. He has given them a flexibility that they had in their heyday.”
An opinion even the sternest of grumps would find hard to argue with. These two dancing Spaniards currently light up the Premier League each week and with Juan Mata (8.5) and David Silva (9.0) at home to Genk and Villarreal respectively they’ll both be getting pride of place on our Watchlist.
After avoiding the biggest of big hitters in the middle of the park, our squad of European candidates get some rather obvious -and expensive- additions to bring some Player of the Year calibre to the Matchday. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi don’t come cheap at 12.6 and 14.1 respectively but with games at home to Lyon and Plzen we could see the kind of scorelines that these two inspire week in, week out in La Liga.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasn’t around to help Sweden qualify for Euro 2012 with victory over the Netherlands and talk is of how the team played better without their talisman. This is something Ibrahimovic won’t be taking lightly and with a home tie against BATE Borisov, he’ll be keen to serve a reminder of his abilities.
Andre Schurrle proves to be the perfect budget option once more as Bayer Leverkusen host Valencia this weekend. His 6.0 price-tag will allow him to fit in amongst the likes of the aforementioned bank-busters and keep teams in budget. Kleber of Porto at 6.5, if fit, equally fits snugly into this category.
Please note that deadline for your UEFA Fantasy Champions League team selection will be at the earlier time of 17:45 CET (16:45 GMT) today. This is due to CSKA Moscow hosting Trabzonspor before all the remaining Tuesday games kick off later this evening.
