UCL Fantasy Football: are Messi, Lewandowski and Haaland in line for big hauls?
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Article summary
Ahead of Matchday 1, UEFA.com crunches the numbers to find out which players are predicted for big points hauls.
Article top media content
Article body
Predicting which Fantasy players are going to perform on a given matchday is a difficult task. Through crunching the numbers, a projected points total for each player has been calculated based on the player's historical performance in the UEFA Champions League. Goals, assists, clean sheets and the likelihood of playing are the major parameters used in our projections.
The top projected players for each position for Matchday 1 are given below. As usual, check the latest team news before picking your final squad.
GOALKEEPERS
| Player | Price | Club | Opponents | Home/Away | Gameday | Projected points |
| Neto | €5.0m | Barcelona | Ferencváros | Home | Tuesday | 6.6 |
| Thibaut Courtois | €6.0m | Real Madrid | Shakhtar | Home | Wednesday | 6.4 |
| Keylor Navas | €5.5m | Paris | Man Utd | Home | Tuesday | 6.3 |
| Péter Gulácsi | €5.5m | Leipzig | İstanbul Başakşehir | Home | Tuesday | 6.1 |
| Manuel Neuer | €6.0m | Bayern | Atlético | Home | Wednesday | 6.0 |
The top five projected goalkeepers for Matchday 1 are all playing at home and it's no surprise Keylor Navas features on the list, with last season’s UEFA Champions League runners-up Paris having kept five clean sheets in the 2019/20 group stage. Bayern's Manuel Neuer scored 50 #UCLfantasy points last season – more than any other goalkeeper.
DEFENDERS
| Player | Price | Club | Opponents | Home/Away | Gameday | Projected points |
| Marquinhos | €5.5m | Paris | Man Utd | Home | Tuesday | 7.1 |
| Sergio Ramos | €6.5m | Real Madrid | Shakhtar | Home | Wednesday | 7.0 |
| Clément Lenglet | €5.5m | Barcelona | Ferencváros | Home | Tuesday | 6.7 |
| Joshua Kimmich | €6.5m | Bayern | Atlético | Home | Wednesday | 6.5 |
| Achraf Hakimi | €6.0m | Inter | Mönchengladbach | Home | Wednesday | 6.5 |
| Lukas Klostermann | €5.0m | Leipzig | İstanbul Başakşehir | Home | Tuesday | 6.4 |
| Presnel Kimpembe | €5.5m | Paris | Man Utd | Home | Tuesday | 6.3 |
| Mats Hummels | €5.0m | Dortmund | Lazio | Away | Tuesday | 6.2 |
| Andy Robertson | €6.5m | Liverpool | Ajax | Away | Wednesday | 6.1 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | €6.5m | Liverpoool | Ajax | Away | Wednesday | 6.0 |
There are some familiar names amongst the top projected defenders ahead of Matchday 1, with many of last season’s top performers expected to return points once more. #UCLfantasy veterans will no doubt be clamouring for Sergio Ramos given that he is on penalty duty at Real Madrid.
Leipzig’s Lukas Klostermann and Dortmund’s Mats Hummels were also stand-out players when it came to ball recoveries in the previous campaign, while #UCLfantasy managers searching for attacking threat may look towards Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich or Achraf Hakimi of Inter, with both often deployed in more advanced roles than their position suggests.
MIDFIELDERS
| Player | Price | Club | Opponents | Home/Away | Gameday | Projected |
| Serge Gnabry | €10.0m | Bayern | Atlético | Home | Wednesday | 7.6 |
| Raheem Sterling | €10.5m | Man City | Porto | Home | Wednesday | 7.3 |
| Jadon Sancho | €10.0m | Dortmund | Lazio | Away | Tuesday | 7.3 |
| Mario Pašalić | €7.5m | Atalanta | Midtjylland | Away | Wednesday | 7.0 |
| Thomas Müller | €10.0m | Bayern | Atlético | Home | Wednesday | 6.9 |
| Mohamed Salah | €11.5m | Liverpool | Ajax | Away | Wednesday | 6.8 |
| Emil Forsberg | €7.0m | Leipzig | İstanbul Başakşehir | Home | Tuesday | 6.6 |
| Philippe Coutinho | €9.0m | Barcelona | Ferencváros | Home | Tuesday | 6.6 |
| Sadio Mané | €11.0m | Liverpool | Ajax | Away | Wednesday | 6.5 |
| Bruno Fernandes | €9.5m | Man Utd | Paris | Away | Tuesday | 6.4 |
With nine goals and two assists in the UEFA Champions League last season, Serge Gnabry was an invaluable asset and our algorithm is tipping the German to make a strong start on Matchday 1,His Bayern team-mate Thomas Müller could be an interesting option given his reclassifcation as a midfielder this time around.
Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané carry large price tags but could be worth that investment if the Premier League side’s trip to Ajax turns into an open game, while penalty-hunters might want to look at Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, with Tuesday’s trip to Paris marking the Portuguese star’s first appearance in the UEFA Champions League for almost three years.
FORWARDS
| Player | Price | Club | Opponents | Home/Away | Gameday | Projected Points |
| Lionel Messi | €12.0m | Barcelona | Ferencváros | Home | Tuesday | 8.0 |
| Robert Lewandowski | €12.0 | Bayern | Atlético | Home | Wednesday | 8.0 |
| Erling Braut Haaland | €11.0m | Dortmund | Lazio | Away | Tuesday | 7.6 |
| Lautaro Martínez | €10.5m | Inter | Mönchengladbach | Home | Wednesday | 7.3 |
| Neymar | €11.5m | Paris | Man Utd | Home | Tuesday | 7.2 |
| Timo Werner | €10.5m | Chelsea | Sevilla | Home | Tuesday | 7.0 |
| Romelu Lukaku | €11.0m | Inter | Mönchengladbach | Home | Wednesday | 7.0 |
| Alejandro Gómez | €9.5m | Atalanta | Midtjylland | Away | Wednesday | 6.9 |
| Kylian Mbappé | €11.0m | Paris | Man Utd | Home | Tuesday | 6.8 |
| Karim Benzema | €10.5m | Real Madrid | Shakhtar | Home | Wednesday | 6.7 |
The top projected forwards for Matchday 1 features most of European football's leading attacking players with #UCLfantasy managers faced with the challenge of picking three assets from an incredible selection. The top three on the list – Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Erling Braut Haaland – also happen to be the three most selected forwards so plenty will be pinning their hopes on that fearsome trio.
Elsewhere, Alejandro Gómez has started the season in blistering form for free-scoring Atalanta and is a tempting option with the Serie A side facing UEFA Champions League debutants Midtjylland, while Neymar has been similarly prolific for Paris and Brazil recently and is projected to perform well against Manchester United.