Champions League Fantasy: The Scout squad

The return of the UEFA Champions League means the return of #UCLfantasy, and The Scout's first squad of 2021/22 is a blend of some of Europe's biggest names and bargain buys who could hopefully out-perform their price tags.

Goalkeepers

The basic premise in goal is simple: pick players who are in action on separate days. With €100m to play with when selecting your squad, you can afford to invest here, with two leading premium contenders being Ederson (€6.0m) of Manchester City and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy. Both are strong options given their sides' defensive records in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League, and their starts to this season, but it is the Brazilian who gets the nod for City's home game against Leipzig.

Mendy is omitted partly because Tuesday's lower-priced goalkeeping options are more attractive than their Wednesday equivalents – while funds can be found for one premium goalkeeper, two is stretching it too far. With that in mind, Benfica's Odisseas Vlachodimos (€4.5m), who kept three clean sheets in his four qualifying appearances, is chosen for the trip to Dynamo Kyiv.

Defenders

Chelsea's defensive strength last term, and an appealing start at home to Zenit, means a place for César Azpiliciueta (€5.0m), who collected an impressive 61 points in the 2020/21 competition. Also delivering solid returns in the tournament last season were Spain-based pair Kieran Trippier (€5.0m) of Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla's Diego Carlos (€4.5m) who, with home fixtures against Porto and Salzburg respectively, are once again included.

A key element of #UCLfantasy is balancing the books, and to that end finding bargain signings who can deliver decent points returns is crucial. Wolfsburg's Jérôme Roussillon (€4.0m) may be one such option this time around; the left-back already boasts one goal and two clean sheets in this season's Bundesliga. Lastly, wing-back Joakim Mæhle (€5.0m) was a break-out star at UEFA EURO 2020 and could well translate those Fantasy returns to the UEFA Champions League in an attack-minded Atalanta side.

Midfielders

It's important to have a blend among your midfielders, with high-value players who can produce attacking returns and more defensive options whose strengths lie in ball recovery – an often profitable route to points. Jorginho (€6.0m) could deliver in both respects; 23 of his 57 points last season came from ball recoveries, while as Chelsea's designated penalty taker he also represents a goal threat. Danilo (€5.0m) of Paris Saint-Germain is less likely to offer attacking returns but also performed well in terms of ball recoveries, making him a useful budget enabler.

Jamal Musiala (€6.5m) has begun the campaign well at Bayern, supplying two goals and two assists in four Bundesliga appearances, and will now look to translate that form to the European stage for the visit to Barcelona. Paul Pogba (€8.5m) is almost impossible to leave out having set a new Premier League record with seven assists in his first four matches of this campaign; the Frenchman's challenge now is to build on his two assists in last season's UEFA Champions League. Across the same city, Ferran Torres (€7.5m) has been deployed as a forward by Manchester City so far this term and is likely to be used in a similar fashion in Europe, giving him a good chance of adding to his four goals in last season's competition.

Forwards

Given the available attacking riches, whittling the forwards down to just three is never easy, and is perhaps harder than ever in 2021/22. The records of the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar – to mention just the three leading Paris Saint-Germain options – plus Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, Zlatan Ibrahimović and many more, mean there are more choices than ever. In the end, the Scout has gone for the most popular player in the game; Erling Haaland (€11.0m) is perhaps the most obvious pick around, sitting in 59% of teams at the time of writing and having scored 14 goals in nine outings for club and country this season.

Two other players who have hit the ground running in 2021/22 complete the front line. Cristiano Ronaldo (€11.0m) made his second Manchester United debut on Saturday, marking the occasion with two goals, and will doubtless be in the hunt for more at Young Boys; Romelu Lukaku (€10.5m) has also returned to familiar surroundings this autumn and has scored twice in his first three Premier League games back at Chelsea, making it six goals in five matches for the London club and Belgium.