The UEFA Champions League’s hiatus is finally over, with the round of 16 getting underway on Tuesday evening.
With the knockout stage kicking off tonight, FanTeam is marking the resumption of play by launching a major tournament, the Champions League Knockout Freeze, with a guaranteed €100,000 prize pool on offer.
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The following eight games will take place in the last 16:
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool
Borussia Dortmund v Paris Saint-Germain
Atalanta v Valencia
Tottenham Hotspur v Red Bull Leipzig
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Napoli v Barcelona
Lyon v Juventus
Real Madrid v Manchester City
As we explained in our introductory article for the Knockout Freeze, Fantasy managers entering the tournament will have to make do with a 15-man squad chosen before tonight’s games and can’t do anything thereafter (i.e. replace players when their teams have been eliminated).
In other words, anticipating which clubs will go deep into the UEFA Champions League will be crucial, which is where things like bookies’ odds might come in handy.
With Spurs and RB Leipzig meeting in a hard-to-call round-of-16 tie, one of Timo Werner or Son Heung-min – excellent Fantasy assets in their own right – will be eliminated from the Champions League before we get to the quarter-finals.
The likes of Moussa Dembele of Lyon, João Félix of Atletico Madrid and Dries Mertens of Napoli, meanwhile, are all facing last-16 games in which their teams are second-favourites to qualify.
Such players are not a complete no-go but they should be built into a 15-man squad in a measured way, given the hands-off approach of FanTeam‘s tournament.
A decent amount of luck will also be required, of course, because we don’t know what the quarter-final and semi-final draws will look like. This contrasts to, for example, the World Cup or European Championship, where we can calculate the earliest point that two teams might meet.
FanTeam have submitted their own list of players to consider below, eschewing the “obvious” picks like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk, who of course are excellent options in their own right.
A player’s individual points potential and their respective team’s chances of progressing are both key to selecting a squad in the Knockout Freeze event, which FanTeam have at the forefront of their mind in their below analysis:
FanTeam’s Own Player Tips
Goalkeepers
Keylor Navas (PSG / 6.0M)
PSG’s goalkeeper is our first choice here, given that the Ligue I side has built up a strong defence which concedes only a few goals. PSG kept five clean sheets in their six group matches, with Navas playing a big role in this success. The Costa Rica international may rack up save points against Dortmund, too, while two of the German side’s most important players, Julian Brandt and Marco Reus, won’t be ready for the first leg.
Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus / 6.0M)
Juve are the bookmakers’ biggest favourites to advance to this year’s Champions League quarter-finals, given that they are up against an out-of-sorts Lyon side languishing in 11th place in Ligue I. One of the French outfit’s most important players, Memphis Depay, will also be missing, which will aid the clean sheet chances of a Juventus side that kept three shut-outs in the group stage.
Thibault Courtois (Real Madrid / 5.5M)
The third goalkeeper in our selection carries a little more risk because Real Madrid is the slight underdog against Manchester City. But Real are in decent form defensively, having kept five clean sheets in their last eight La Liga games. Courtois has also been named player of the month in the Spanish top flight and could be a decent reserve goalkeeper if the budget allows it.
Defence
Alex Sandro (Juventus / 6.0M)
Part of a solid backline and a threat at the other end of the pitch, Sandro has ten goals and 24 assists in 183 games for Juventus and may get plenty of joy down the left flank against Lyon. Security of starts is a given with Sandro, although Matthijs de Ligt is a viable alternative for the same price.
Lucas Hernández (Bayern / 4.5M)
Having made his comeback from injury against RB Leipzig only recently, Hernandez is perhaps a risky pick. However, his low price of just £4.5m could come in handy given that there is a budget to be kept to.
Joe Gomez / Joel Matip (Liverpool / 5.5M / 5.0M)
Matip was the regular partner of van Dijk before his injury, since when Gomez has stepped up as a regular starter alongside the Dutchman.
Whether Jurgen Klopp opts to break up his now-regular back four and hand game-time to back-up options like Matip in the Champions League remains to be seen but FanTeam managers will have the luxury of seeing Liverpool’s starting formation before the Knockout Freeze tournament closes, so can delay any decision to the last possible minute.
Midfield
Thomas Müller (Bayern / 8.5M)
Not liked by Niko Kovac but loved by Hansi Flick, Müller’s stock has risen recently.
With 11 assists he set a new record in the first half of the Bundesliga this season, also chipping in with four attacking returns in the Champions League group stage despite not being granted much pitch-time by his former coach.
Behind Juventus and Barcelona, Bayern is the third biggest favourite to reach the quarter-finals, where there would be at least two more matches in which Müller could score points for us.
Eden Hazard (Real Madrid / 8.0M)
It sounds unlikely but in Eden Hazard, we almost have a “risky pick” here in midfield.
As mentioned above, Real is a slight underdog against Manchester City but, so long as you have options from your bench to replace the Belgian should the Spanish giants fail to qualify for the quarter-finals, he could be worth the gamble.
Hazard, who registered 110 goals and 92 assists in 352 games for Chelsea, is now returning from injury and should be back in the starting XI in the first leg against Manchester City later this month.
Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona / 7.0M)
De Jong fits well into the format of this tournament because, given that FanTeam managers will have the same squad for the whole of the Champions League, a player who stands a good chance of reaching the semi-finals or the final can be a prized asset.
Messi and Antoine Griezmann are the obvious picks, but at a cheaper cost, the Dutch playmaker has a decent price/performance ratio.
Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur / 8.5M)
With Harry Kane out for much of the campaign, the in-form Son’s listing as a midfielder in FanTeam will provide him not just with an extra point for a goal but makes him eligible for clean sheets too.
The match against RB Leipzig is tough to call but Spurs progressed to the final of the Champions League last season and have the tournament know-how to repeat that trick.
Strikers
Mauro Icardi (PSG / 10.5M)
Given the number of Fantasy managers who will plump for the likes of Neymar and Angel di Maria, Icardi could be a decent differential.
Icardi scored five times in the group stage and has found the back of the net on a further 11 occasions in Ligue I this season.
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool / 12.0M)
Much like Icardi at PSG, Firmino is the differential Liverpool attacking option because of the popularity of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
In decent form and plying his trade at arguably the best team in Europe right now, Firmino has every chance of repeating last year’s trick and going deep into the competition again.
Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona / 12.0M)
Certainly not the most original pick but a sensible one, given that Barca could make it all the way to the final.
With Luis Suarez out for the rest of the season, Griezmann could well be occupying the centre-forward position in the Uruguayan’s stead and could prosper more than if he was stationed on the flank.
Duvan Zapata (Atalanta / 6.0M)
A speculative pick but perhaps worth the gamble given the price, Zapata is the best centre-forward in Italy’s biggest goal factory.
Atalanta have scored 63 goals in 24 Serie A matches this season, with Zapata on target eight times in 14 appearances.
Bench
The bench will be very important because of the tournament rules and the prospect of some first-teamers exiting the Champions League early.
A tough quarter-final draw, say with Barcelona meeting Liverpool, also has the potential to decimate a FanTeam squad.
The probability of having 11 players left who can play in the semi-finals and earn points is, therefore, pretty low.
Enough cheap options exist in goal and in defence to have good options for later rounds, however, while the following midfield players might be worth a look for bench duty:
- Alphonso Davies (Bayern / 5.5M)
- Thiago Alcantara (Bayern / 6.5M)
- Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool / 6.5M)
- Marco Verratti (Paris / 7.0M)
- Miralem Pjanic (Juventus / 6.0M)
- Ilkay Gündogan (Man City / 6.5M)
If a dirt-cheap option is required, it will probably come down to a defensive midfielder from the top clubs, such as Sergio Busquets (Barcelona / 4.5M), Fabinho (Liverpool / 5.0M) or Fernandinho (Man City / 4.5M). Even if the prospect of returns is low, it is significantly better than a player who is no longer in the competition.
It will be difficult to have solid strikers on the bench because the regular players from the top teams are so expensive.
The only bench options from the tournament favourites are substitute options like Edinson Cavani (Paris / 6.0M) or Divock Origi (Liverpool / 5.5M), with the more expensive Ansu Fati (Barcelona / 7.5M), Paulo Dybala (Juventus / 9.0M) and Gabriel Jesus (Man City / 9.5M) further up the price bracket.
Here is an example squad containing many of the names we have just mentioned:
4 years, 2 months agoI guess Harvey Barnes joins the team one week early