Our UEFA Fantasy Champions League endeavours have pulled around the corner once more. We’re back and looking to ascertain which players might help our European Fantasy managers in their tilt at a title with some continental flavour.
What follows are the latest motley crew to get the Fantasy Football Scout backing ahead of Matchday Two…
He’d won two Champions League titles at the age of 21; quite some pedigree. Given his position as goalkeeper, this is an even more impressive feat. With more years and experience under his belt it’s hard not to be tempted by Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas this Matchday.
A fair amount cheaper will be the 4.5 forked out for Bernd Leno of Leverkusen at home to Genk.
Phil Jones has made light work of his transition to the red side of Manchester after a summer move from Blackburn and with United still shorn of defensive options, his price of just 5.5 makes him seem something of a bargain at home to FC Basel tonight.
The new “recovered balls” bonus in this game will take more than one Matchday to get to grips with. Nevertheless, we’ll bite on the early data. Bakary Kone topped the charts last time round and, playing host to Dinamo Zagreb, joins our watchlist as a result.
After bringing AC Milan to your attention last week, we feel compelled to bring Thiago Silva along as the first of a few Rossoneri selected this Matchday.
When we’re plumping for 4.0 bargain players it’s nice to have names that you’ll recognise. Defender Marek Cech (ex West Brom) of Trabzonspor hosting Lille this weekend meets this criteria.
I have to start our midfield off with him and I’m not even going to apologise about it. Alberto Aquilani gets a bear hug from this scribe and offers plenty of mid-price potential against the champions of the Czech Republic this coming Matchday.
With Wayne Rooney ruled out of Man United’s Champions League tie with FC Basel this evening, we’ll just have to settle for Nani instead. If you can really call it settling.
Over in Germany, Frank Ribery has been enjoying a prolific start to the season with 5 assists, 3 goals and a lot of plaudits coming his way. The visit of a Manchester City side with a new attacking verve should mean he’ll hope to continue in this rich vein of form as Jupp Heynckes’ side try to make the most of the space left behind.
A pair of French-based midfielders are next to get the Scout call-up. Set-piece king Michel Bastos -with a home tie against Zagreb- and the daringly cheap Mathieu Valbuena (but playing for a Marseille side in a major slump right now) are here to offer our choices some Gallic flair.
After also shining the spotlight on Napoli last week we’d be hard pressed to not include at least one of their squad. Edinson Cavani is scoring goals for fun right now and upcoming opponents Villarreal have been in a bit of slumber this season to date. We’ll be hoping these two facts marry perfectly when they meet.
After a thirty minute goalscoring substitute appearance at the weekend, Karim Benzema will be ready to rock and roll around the Bernabeu tonight. With a whole host of Galacticos in support, I wouldn’t bet against the Frenchman. Cristiano Ronaldo is clearly an even better bet if you can afford the hefty price-tag.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still injured and now Alexandre Pato has ruled himself out of affairs, too. When first announced we shared sentiments that Milan may regret leaving Pippo Inzaghi out of their squad but this now cements Antonio Cassano, a mere 7.5, in the starting line-up.
We pick up one more duty free option from our ferry hop to France before we head home. Bafe Gomis is stowed away in the boot as European Fantasy managers look to get squiffy on his 7.0 ahead of an evening of merriment.
If you are looking for someone a little cheaper to fill that final spot then Andre Schurrle of Leverkusen, at just 6.0, might make a handy budget purchase. Having served a domestic suspension the young man will fresh as the Germans welcome their opponents Genk over from Belgium.
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 Inter Milan before all the remaining Tuesday games kick off later this evening.
