If FPL, Fantasy EFL and the new Fantasy Challenge game mode can’t quite quench your thirst, don’t worry – it’s not too late to sign up for UEFA Champions League Fantasy!
There are prizes on offer every Matchday (the equivalent of a Gameweek) so even latecomers have something to play for.
If you’re new to the game, we have already run through the ins and outs of how to play – including how captaincy and substitutes differ from other games – as well as producing a fixture ticker and a guide to how this year’s brand-new Champions League format works.
We’ve even listed out 60 of the best/worst UCL Fantasy team names!
Here, we’re taking a look at the players who have performed best at something that not all Fantasy football games reward you for, but UCL Fantasy certainly does: ball recoveries.
Every three balls recovered are worth a point, so it’s an underlying stat worth paying attention to.
Which defenders have the highest number of balls recovered?
Heading into UCL Matchday 5, PSG’s Willian Pacho (€4.7m) sits top of the leaderboard for balls recovered, with 41 over his first four matches of this campaign.
That tally includes 13 balls recovered (+4 points) by Pacho in the Parisians’ last outing, which boosted his total score that week to five points despite the result being a 2-1 loss to Atlético Madrid.
He has also recovered no fewer than nine balls in each of PSG’s opening four UCL games – a level of effort his teammates will hope continues for a tricky trip to Bayern Munich.
Trailing some way behind Pacho but still in second place among defenders is Alexsandro (€4.6m).
The Lille defender has built on strong showings in his side’s opening two fixtures with another pair of plaudit-earning performances, first recovering seven balls in the Matchday 3 win over Atléti before recovering 10 in the 1-1 draw against Juventus.
He is still owned by less than 1% of UCL Fantasy managers, so could be a key differential ahead of relatively easier-looking games against Bologna and Sturm Graz over the next two Matchdays.
In third place for balls recovered among all UCL defenders after four Matchdays is RB Salzburg’s Samson Baidoo (€4.4m)
The Austrian defender has accrued 32 ball recoveries despite missing his side’s opening match of the campaign – meaning that in the three subsequent games, he has tallied 10, nine and 13, respectively, for a combined total of 10 extra points from this stat alone.
Salzburg have largely struggled so far in this year’s competition, though, losing their opening three matches against Sparta Praha, Brest and GNK Dinamo by a combined score of 9-0 before turning things around with a 3-1 win over Feyenoord last time out. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the rest of the league phase, with Bayer Leverkusen (A) next followed by PSG (H), Real Madrid (A) and Atléti (H).
After those three, a group of five defenders all sit on 31 ball recoveries ahead of Matchday 5. They are Monaco’s Wilfried Singo (€4.6m), Stuttgart’s Anthony Rouault (€4.6m), Shakhtar’s Pedro Henrique (€4.6m), Bologna’s Jhon Lucumí (€4.6m) and Crvena Zvezda’s Nasser Djiga (€4.0m).
Of them, Singo is clear in the lead as the top overall performer, having amassed a total tally of 29 points that places him fifth among all defenders thus far. Even more impressively, he’s achieved that despite playing only three of four games – helped by an outside-the-box goal, an assist and 11 ball recoveries (leading to a 15-point haul) in Monaco’s Matchday 3 rout of Crvena Zvezda, and a clean sheet along with 13 ball recoveries in the narrower 1-0 away win at Bologna in Matchday 4.
He, like Baidoo and Salzburg, faces a tougher run from now on though, with Benfica (H), Arsenal (A), Aston Villa (H) and Inter Milan (A) being the French side’s remaining fixtures.
Rouault, meanwhile, has been less explosive points-wise but should have a comparatively easier run-in with Stuttgart, as they take on Crvena Zvezda (A), Young Boys (H), ŠK Slovan Bratislava (A) and PSG (H).
Which midfielders have the highest number of balls recovered?
Coming out on top for ball recoveries among midfielders through UCL Matchday 4 is Atalanta’s Martin de Roon (€5.5m).
The Dutchman has recovered 29 balls over the course of his side’s first four fixtures, earning himself eight additional points.
Atalanta are yet to lose in their 2024-25 UCL campaign, and face Young Boys (A) next followed by Real Madrid (H), Sturm Graz (H) and Barcelona (A),
Ryan Gravenberch (€5.1m) sits just behind him, having earned at least an extra two points from each of Liverpool’s four UCL wins so far through his ball recovery efforts.
De Roon’s countryman has leapt up the ball recovery rankings as Matchday 5 approaches, racking up 26 so far. Now the test of old Reds European foe Real Madrid (H) awaits, with Girona (A), Lille (H) and PSV (A) the remaining fixtures for Arne Slot’s squad.
Benfica’s Florentino (€5.0m) is still in the top five midfielders for ball recoveries so far but drops down the list slightly from where he sat after the opening two Matchdays, now claiming joint second place alongside Gravenberch and Atléti’s Axel Witsel (€5.5m).
The Portuguese defensive midfielder missed his side’s last outing, against Bayern, with his numbers boosted by double-digit ball recoveries over the first two Matchdays. As for Witsel, the Belgian only played one minute of Atléti’s first match and has managed to gain eight additional points from ball recoveries in the three matches since then.
Benjamin André (€5.0m) rounds out the top five in this metric, sitting on 25 ball recoveries so far.
That’s been the main source of points to date for the Lille midfielder, who also gained an extra two points for winning a penalty in the Matchday 3 win over Atléti before losing a point by conceding a penalty in his team’s next match, against Juventus.
Which forwards have the highest number of balls recovered?
We still have to drop some way down the overall list of players with the highest ball recoveries so far before we find some forwards – but there are a few that have reached double digits for that metric, including one stand-out option.
As he did after the first two Matchdays, Bologna’s Dan Ndoye (€6.0m) leads the way; this time, he does so by some margin. The Swiss international is still yet to register a goal or assist in this Champions League campaign but he’s been ticking along with a stream of ball recoveries. Three of those gained him one extra point in a Matchday 3 loss to Villa, while he managed seven for an additional two points in Bologna’s 1-0 loss at home to Monaco in Matchday 4.
The Italian side are yet to score at all in the competition, with Lille (H), Benfica (A), Borussia Dortmund and Sporting Clube de Portugal (A) up next.
Some way behind Ndoye for ball recoveries over the first four UCL Matchdays is Kerem Aktürkoğlu (€6.1m) of Benfica.
The Turkish winger has been much more productive in terms of overall output. He scored a goal in each of his side’s opening three matches before being hooked early in the second half of Benfica’s 1-0 loss away at Bayern Munich. Aktürkoğlu failed to register any ball recoveries in that match either, but has 10 in total from his first three games and is still comfortably the highest overall points scorer among those in this list.
He next faces Monaco (A), before taking on Bologna (H), Barcelona (H) and Juventus (A).
Julián Alvarez (€8.0m) sits level with Aktürkoğlu on 10 ball recoveries so far. The Atléti forward scored his first goal of this season’s competition against Lille in Matchday 3, also recovering three balls in that disappointing home loss to secure an extra point. He picked up an additional point in the same way the previous week when the Spanish side were thumped 4-0 by Benfica.
Next up for the former Manchester City man is a trip to Sparta Praha in Matchday 5, with matches against ŠK Slovan Bratislava (H), Leverkusen (H) an Salzburg after that.
Not featured in the graphic are Inter’s Mehdi Taremi (€7.3m) and Atléti’s Antoine Griezmann (€9.1m), who both boast higher points totals – 23 and 22 points, respectively – than all five of the top forwards for ball recoveries, thanks to greater returns elsewhere in their game.
Each of them have one goal, two assists, seven balls recovered and a Player of the Match award, which itself earns the winner an additional three points.
