With Matchday Four of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Fantasy Game kicking off in just a few hours, we’ve updated the European Watchlist for your convenience. Here follows our shining lights for the next two evenings …
Marseille have turned a corner domestically since moving to a 4-4-2 formation but whispers from abroad hint that Didier Deschamps may revert to the 4-5-1 that has seen them struggle, immediately increasing Wojcech Szczesney‘s potential for a clean sheet.
At 5.0, Anders Lindegaard could prove a risky alternative but he’s played two out of three Champions League ties to date and with United at home to Otelul, could be worth a punt.
When we think of Barcelona, thoughts inevitably turn to their tiki-taka brand of football that sets tongues wagging from here to Timbuktu. The goals keep rolling in, but with nine clean sheets in their last ten games they’ve been solid at the back. Eric Abidal looks a decent shout for the trip to Plzen.
Having averaged 6.7 points over the first three Matchdays, Jerome Boateng of Bayern Munich is a solid option. Priced at just 6.1, he’s as part of the strongest defence to be found amongst our Champions League outfits and with a home game against Napoli, could be in line for another clean sheet tomorrow evening.
With a home tie against Dinamo Zagreb on the horizon, the European Watchlist is bound for the Netherlands with our eyes on the back-line of Ajax. Either of Jan Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld should be able to fill squads out there- priced at 5.1 and 5.0 respectively, the pair have a penchant for picking up a handy recovered ball bonus point or two as well.
When you have a budget of just 4.1 left to spend on your UCL squads you’re normally left looking amongst the lesser-known lights. Fortunately, Valencia have promoted from within and Victor Ruiz stands out as an easy option ahead of the Spaniard’s home tie with Bayer Leverkusen.
As has been the way to date, we highlighted Borussia Dortmund with a Scout Report last week so, inevitably, we’re going to throw at least one of their players into the mix. German starlet Mario Gotze is that man and with a must-win tie at home to Olympiakos, he’ll need to be on top of his game.
Given that he was on the bench at Everton on Saturday afternoon we’ll take a stab at Luis Nani having a greater than average chance of starting this Matchday and, subsequently, back him to the hilt to come good against Otelul.
It’s hard to deny we’ve picked up a little bit of an infatuation with Porto’s James Rodriguez over the first three Matchdays. With a crucial trip to APOEL on the cards, this forward -classified and priced as a cheap midfielder- more than warrants another shout out around these parts.
If you need someone relatively cheap then Christian Eriksen of Ajax at just 6.0 meets the criteria ahead of the Dutch side’s home clash with Dinamo Zagreb. That still too expensive? Kevin De Bruyne of Genk at 4.5 will want to impress at home to Chelsea, his potential suitors.
Rolling off what has been an incredible month (and year) of goalscoring exploits, Robin Van Persie picks himself – matters are only more pleasing considering the mere 9.0 it’ll set back European managers to invest.
Mario Gomez‘s record in the Bundesliga this last year is equally as frightening. With Napoli paying visit to the Allianz Arena, Bayern will be looking to show some of the home muscle that has seen them rack up 23 goals in five games in Germany’s top-flight this season.
We’ve already mentioned Valencia have a tie at home to Leverkusen this evening. We’re opting for Roberto Soldado, at 7.4, to score the goals needed to keep his side in with a chance of making it to the next stage.
If you need to scrimp and save on your budget then the 4.1 bargain basement price for Ailton of APOEL is hard to turn down. If the Cypriot champions can keep hold of top spot in their group this Matchday, we’d be willing to bet this man is going to be involved.
Please note that deadline for your UEFA Fantasy Champions League team selection will be at the earlier time of 17:45 CET today. This is due to ties kicking off in Russia (Zenit vs Shakhtar) and Belarus (BATE Borisov vs AC Milan) earlier than the six remaining scheduled fixtures today.
