Champions League Fantasy Football: Midfielders

UEFA.com casts an eye back on the top-performing UEFA Champions League midfielders during the group stage on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

With seven goals in Group A, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (€11.2m) heads into the knockout stage as the joint-top scorer in the UEFA Champions League. His rich vein of form in front of goal has also been reflected from a Fantasy standpoint with Salah having accumulated 58 points – the highest of any midfielder – behind only striker Kylian Mbappé. The Egyptian has the chance to make it five consecutive double-figure point returns on Matchday 7 as Liverpool take on Real Madrid in a repeat of last season's final.

Completing the top three highest-scoring Fantasy midfielders are two players from Bundesliga clubs. Dortmund's Jude Bellingham (€7.5m) has picked up 48 points, finding the net four times and also gaining an assist, 28 ball recoveries and two Player of the Match awards. Bellingham should play a key offensive role from central midfield in the round of 16 against Chelsea. Bayern's Sadio Mané (€10.7m) rounds off the top three points scorers with 43, recording three goals, one assist and 18 ball recoveries.

Consistency is an important trait for Fantasy assets and Vinícius Júnior (€10.0m) has provided just that, the Brazilian recording an attacking return in all five group games he started for Real Madrid. The 22-year-old scored the only goal of last season's final against last-16 opponents Liverpool, and also struck twice against the English club in the 2020/21 quarter-finals, so his status as the second most popular midfielder on #UCLfantasy is little surprise.

Multiple midfielders impressed for Napoli during the group stage, including Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (€5.9m) and Piotr Zieliński (€7.3m), who each provided three goals and two assists. The former's bargain price makes him especially appealing ahead of a round of 16 tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.

João Mário (€6.1m) of Benfica finished the group stage strongly, delivering consecutive ten-point hauls and 27 Fantasy points in total across Matchdays 4, 5 and 6. Another winger representing a Portuguese Liga club in the round of 16 is Galeno (€5.8m) of Porto, whose price is sure to pique interest. Like João Mário, Galeno racked up 41 points in the group stage, the standout performance coming on Matchday 4 when he found the net and won two penalties in a 3-0 win at Leverkusen.

Whilst Leipzig may have their work cut out in the round of 16 against Manchester City, Christopher Nkunku (€9.0m) boasts an excellent goalscoring record against Pep Guardiola's side. Nkunku scored a hat-trick against the Premier League champions in Manchester in last season's group stage and comes into the tie on the back of a goal, an assist and 14 Fantasy points on Matchday 6.