Champions League Picks – Semi-Finals, First Leg

Our coverage of the official UEFA Fantasy Champions League game returns this afternoon. With just four teams left in this year’s competition, our options are a little restricted ahead of tonight’s 7.30 pm deadline – nonetheless, we still manage to hand-pick a differential from each of the remaining sides for your consideration:

Filipe Luis – the Atletico left-back sets you back just 5.5 ahead of tonight’s home encounter with Chelsea. With Eden Hazard a major doubt, the visitors are likely to be stunted in attack against a side that have been mean in defence all season; the La Liga leaders have conceded just 22 times in 34 league games this term and with Jose Mourinho bound to keep it tight, Luis – owned by less than 3% of Fantasy managers – looks a real differential worth considering.

Fernando Torres – with Samuel Eto’o set to miss out due to a knee injury, the script looks set for the 9.0-priced Spaniard to lead the line against his former club in tonight’s first-leg. Torres will always have his critics but there’s no doubt he has a tendency to pop up with goals in the matches that matter most – the chance for him to ‘not celebrate’ a winner against his old team could well be the big story of the last four.

Gareth Bale – Real’s summer signing is back in full training after recovering from flu earlier in the week. With Cristiano Ronaldo poised for a return from injury, Carlo Ancelotti will surely target a Bayern backline that struggled against Man United’s pace through the centre in the previous round. Available for 12.0, Bale notched an oustanding winner in last week’s Spanish Cup final triumph over Barcelona and welcomes the defending champions to the Bernabeu in his best form of a superb debut season.

Thomas Muller – handed a brief 17-minute run-out for the weekend win over Braunschwieg, the Bayern forward will be fully refreshed for tomorrow’s trip to Spain. Priced at 11.0, Muller has a habit of netting vital goals in the big games and, with four strikes in his last six Champions League matches, will be confident of finding the net against a Madrid side that has mustered a mere three clean sheets in their 10 matches in this season’s competition.