UCL Fantasy Football: The Scout squad

The Scout's 15-man squad for the opening leg of the two semi-finals features some tricky selection dilemmas, with some high-priced assets missing out due to budget constraints.

Goalkeepers

If the quarter-finals are any guide, clean sheets will be at a premium in the last four, although Chelsea and Real Madrid are both on decent runs without conceding; the English club have kept three successive clean sheets, while their Spanish rivals have managed one more. Unfortunately from a Fantasy point of view, the teams are playing each other, and given a golden rule is to pick goalkeepers playing on different nights, only one can be selected. Chelsea's Edouard Mendy (€5.5m) gets the nod, both for budget reasons and given his remarkably consistent level – the Senegal international has managed 13 clean sheets in his last 18 Chelsea appearances. It is harder to see either Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City managing a shut-out given their respective attacking talents, so Keylor Navas (€5.8m) is chosen from the first leg at the Parc des Princes given his potential for extra save points.

Defenders

The strengths of the back lines at Real Madrid and Chelsea mean that both are represented among the five defenders; Nacho (€5.0m), who picked up nine points on Matchday 10, is the Spanish side's representative while the relatively low prices, added to the potential for clean-sheet points, of César Azpilicueta (€5.4m) and Antonio Rüdiger (€4.9m) means both are selected from the London club. Manchester City pair John Stones (€5.2m) and Kyle Walker (€5.8m) complete the defensive quintet; second-guessing Josep Guardiola's team selection is always a challenge but having sat out Sunday's English League Cup final victory through suspension, Stones seems likely to feature in Paris. Walker, meanwhile, has picked up 48 points overall, 13 of them via ball recoveries, which might once again prove a fruitful source at the Parc des Princes.

Midfielders

The attacking positions are a tricky proposition, with budget constraints meaning Kevin de Bruyne's hefty price tag is a step too far. Instead, his City team-mate Phil Foden (€7.3m), who scored in both legs of the quarter-final win against Borussia Dortmund, comes in. The remaining four midfielders all come from the Madrid-Chelsea tie; the home side are represented by Casemiro (€6.3m), whose ball recovery statistics make him close to a must-have, and Luka Modrić (€8.0m), who has delivered five or more Fantasy points in five of his last six UEFA Champions League appearances. The ball recovery system also means a place for Jorginho (€6.2m), with almost half (19) of his 46 points in this season's competition coming via that route; the Italian international's Chelsea club-mate Mason Mount (€6.9m), a scorer in the quarter-final first leg, completes the midfield group.

Forwards

Up front is where thing get really tricky, especially with one of the four teams mostly playing without a recognised striker; Manchester City have mostly favoured a tactical approach that has not allowed Sergio Agüero or Gabriel Jesus a starting role, so picking either player would be a serious Fantasy gamble. In contrast, Paris pair Neymar (€11.6m) and Kylian Mbappé are all but guaranteed to start; the Brazilian gets the nod for the Scout squad. There is the possibility to select both Paris forwards but that would be a risk should the French champions fail to score. Instead, Madrid's in-form Karim Benzema (€10.4m), who has 12 goals in his last 13 appearances, comes in, as does Timo Werner (€10.6m) of Chelsea. The German has found the going tough in his first season in England, but ended a run of 11 Chelsea games without a goal with Saturday's winner at West Ham, a timely injection of confidence for the trip to Madrid.