Champions League Fantasy Football: The Scout squad for Matchday 9

The Scout's squad for first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals has a decidedly Premier League look to it with Arsenal providing five representatives and Manchester City four, although there is still room for Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham.

Goalkeepers

Four successive clean sheets in all competitions – and seven in the last ten matches, with only three goals conceded in that run – make Arsenal's David Raya (€5.0m) the obvious goalkeeper candidate for Tuesday's game against Bayern München, with the Spaniard looking to add to his four Champions League shut-outs in 2023/24.

The only remaining goalkeeper to have outscored Raya is Borussia Dortmund's Gregor Kobel (€5.0m), who is Wednesday's selection for the trip to Atlético de Madrid. The Swiss international has scored 40 Fantasy points this season and has also managed four clean sheets, including in the round of 16 second leg at home to PSV Eindhoven.

Defenders

Arsenal's defensive record – and home advantage against a Bayern side who have lost their last two matches – mean the Gunners have two representatives among the five members of the back line. Those players are Ben White (€5.4m), whose forays forward from right-back also make him an attacking threat, and William Saliba (€5.5m), who is preferred to centre-back partner Gabriel Magalhães for budget reasons; the latter may be considered more of a threat from set pieces, but Saliba and Gabriel are level on 41 Fantasy points overall.

Top scorer among defenders is still Dortmund's Mats Hummels (€5.1m), who has a total of 51 points – 23 of them via ball recoveries, a near-guarantee of returns in Madrid. A member of the Atlético defence is also included, José María Giménez (€5.0m) a relatively low-cost route into Diego Simeone's back line, while Manchester City's Rúben Dias (€5.4m) faces a challenging trip to Real Madrid but, with 12 of his 29 Fantasy points also coming from ball recoveries, can still target a decent return.

Midfielders

The game between Real Madrid and Manchester City could prove to be another high-scoring tie – as was the case in 2021/22 and, in a more one-sided encounter, 2022/23 – so both sides are represented in midfield. Jude Bellingham (€8.0m) remains the most popular player on the game, with 65% of Fantasy managers including him at the time of writing, while Phil Foden (€8.2m) has scored a career-high 21 goals in all competitions this season. Rodri (€6.7m) remains the most popular City midfielder thanks to his ball-recovery prowess, which is likely to be to the fore again at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Bukayo Saka (€9.8m) has 48 Fantasy points in total with a remarkable 40 of those coming from home matches and ended a run of four games without a goal on Saturday. Axel Witsel (€5.5m) has scored four or more points in every one of his Champions League appearances this season and is another who could benefit from ball recoveries, 16 of his 35 points coming via that route.

Forwards

Two of the three most popular forwards remaining on Fantasy are included on Matchday 9 although, despite his superlative record against Arsenal with Tottenham, Harry Kane misses out. Instead Erling Haaland (€11.7m) is chosen having scored his first goal in six matches for club and country at the weekend, while Kylian Mbappé (€11.5m) is the Paris Saint-Germain pick for the tie against Barcelona having scored all four of the French club's goals in the 2021 tie between the teams.

The front line is completed by Kai Havertz (€7.0m), who has only one goal in this season's Champions League – but five goals and five assists in his last seven Premier League outings. The German international's goal at Brighton on Saturday made it nine in the league for the campaign, his best return in England.