Champions League Fantasy Football: Defenders

Although clean sheets can be hard to come by in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, UEFA.com looks at a number of defenders expected to feature on Matchday 11 and assesses their respective appeal on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

As it stands, no defender has picked up more Fantasy points than Alessandro Bastoni (€5.6m). The Inter centre-back has 59 points, 15 coming during the quarter-finals, and has helped the Nerazzurri to three clean sheets in four knockout games. Bastoni's Inter team-mate Federico Dimarco (€4.6m) was the highest-scoring Fantasy defender on Matchday 10, recording eight points after his two assists against Benfica from left-wing-back. Dimarco has 20 points over the last three games.

Only Real Madrid recorded clean sheets in both legs of their quarter-final victory, the holders again knocking out Chelsea. Both Dani Carvajal (€5.4m) and Éder Militão (€5.5m) started each leg and are the only two Madrid defenders to have scored 40 or more Fantasy points this season. Right-back Carvajal tops the charts with 51 although Militão has more ball recoveries, an important source of points as the Spanish giants take on Manchester City with home advantage in the first leg.

AC Milan have an unmatched defensive record throughout the knockout stage, Stefano Pioli's side having conceded just once in their last four European fixtures. A key figure is central defender Fikayo Tomori (€5.0m), whose 47 ball recoveries are unmatched by any other player set to feature on Matchday 11. Fantasy managers looking for a more attacking option in the Milan defence should be attracted to Theo Hernández (€5.9m), who has 44 Fantasy points, only bettered within the Milan squad by forwards Rafael Leão and Olivier Giroud, and has been a regular starter for a team who have kept five clean sheets in their last six Champions League games.

Of all the defenders set to appear on Matchday 11, only one has a higher Fantasy score than Manchester City's Rúben Dias (€5.7m). The Portuguese international's 57 points has been significantly swelled by his 42 ball recoveries, a total exceeded by only three players in all positions. Dias comes into Matchday 11 with 20 points across the last three matchdays and is all but guaranteed to start in Pep Guardiola's side for the semi-final first leg at Real Madrid.