UCL Fantasy Football: What we know so far – Midfielders

UEFA.com casts its eye back on the first three matchdays to assess the key performers in each position, and what that means for #UCLfantasy managers going forward. Here we look at midfielders.

With three matchdays in the books, three midfielders from English clubs lead the #UCLfantasy scoring charts. Heading the list is Liverpool’s Diogo Jota (€7.5m), with the Portuguese international making quite the impact in his debut season at Anfield. Whilst only appearing as a second-half substitute on Matchday 1, Jota started and scored in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at home to Midtjylland in the second round of games, picking up eight Fantasy points after being deployed as part of an attacking front three. However, it was Matchday 3 that brought Jota’s true breakout performance as he scored a sensational hat-trick at Atalanta that resulted in a haul of 18 points, taking his Fantasy tally to 27 overall. One suspects that more is still to come from Jota and he looks a very enticing option for the remaining three group stage matches.

Coming in at second and third on the list of highest scoring #UCLfantasy midfielders so far are players from either side of Manchester. Marcus Rashford (€9.1m), like Jota, has a UEFA Champions League hat-trick to his name this season. The Manchester United man came on as a second-half substitute to score three times in a 5-0 victory over Leipzig on Matchday 2, which came after scoring the winner on Matchday 1 as United defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in the French capital.

Trailing just behind Rashford is Manchester City’s Ferrán Torres (€7.6m) with 23 Fantasy points accrued after three games. The summer signing has made a wonderful start to life in England, scoring in all three group stage matches so far and becoming the third-youngest player in UEFA Champions League history to score in four consecutive appearances following his goal for Valencia in last season's round of 16 second leg. The Spanish international has proved to be a smart differential pick for the 3% of #UCLfantasy players who currently own him.

Torres is not the only youngster to have racked up the Fantasy points after three matchdays. Barcelona’s 18-year old Ansu Fati (€8.3m) has acquired 20 points after an impressive three group stage appearances that have brought two assists, a goal and the earning of a penalty against Juventus on Matchday 2, although an injury suffered in the Liga at the weekend is set to sideline the teenager for the remainder of the group stage.

If you’re looking for any high-performing cheap midfielders to give you the edge in the next three matchdays, cast an eye over Sérgio Oliveira (€6.5m). The Porto man has scored in the last two matchdays, picking up nine points on Matchday 2 and eight in his most recent outing. Also well worth a mention is Casemiro (€6.0m); Real Madrid's Brazilian international not only has a goal and an assist to his name, but more importantly has racked up 31 ball recoveries to date.