Champions League Fantasy Football: Scout squad for Matchday 8

For the first UEFA Champions League round of fixtures of its type, the Scout has picked a squad full of players whose side's prospects hang in the balance as the league phase concludes on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

With all 18 Matchday 8 fixtures kicking off simultaneously, there is no opportunity to switch captain or make substitutions – meaning Fantasy managers can focus their attention and investment on their 11 starting players. The Scout has accordingly picked some cheap options for the bench to free up funds for a highly-priced starting XI that includes Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Florian Wirtz, Viktor Gyökeres and Julián Alvarez.

Goalkeepers

Whereas normally it would be prudent to select goalkeepers playing on separate days, with only one goalkeeper to play it makes sense to choose the cheapest option for the reserve to allow more options in the starting XI. Marvin Keller (€3.8m) of Young Boys is in the cheapest price bracket so comes in to sit on the bench.

Emiliano Martínez, Manuel Neuer, Yann Sommer and Ederson are among the goalkeepers whose sides have appealing home fixtures, but the Scout has opted for Lukas Hradecky (€4.8m) with the Finn's Bayer Leverkusen are at home to a Sparta Praha side who have failed to scored in three of their last five league phase fixtures.

Defenders

With clean sheets potentially in short supply on Matchday 8 it may make more sense to focus on attacking players, so selecting the minimum three defenders for the team itself could be a winning strategy. Keller's Young Boys team-mate Zachary Athekame (€3.8m) and Rick Karsdorp (€3.8m) of PSV Eindhoven fit the bill, with attacking full-backs filling the three spots in the team itself.

Alejandro Grimaldo (€5.8m) is the top scorer in his position with 51 points, 31 of them at home, and has two goals, an assist and four clean sheets. Denzel Dumfries (€5.5m) has 36 points ahead of Inter Milan's home game against Monaco and has three goals in last four games – and five in seven – in all competitions, while Joško Gvardiol (€5.4m) is selected for Manchester City's home game against Club Brugge having scored his fifth Premier League goal of the season on Saturday.

Midfielders

Gvardiol is the first of three Manchester City players to make the squad, the in-form Phil Foden (€9.2m) the midfield selection from the 2023 champions thanks to six goals in his last six matches and three already in this season's Champions League. With overall top points scorer Raphinha at risk of rotation for Barcelona's game at home to Atalanta, Florian Wirtz (€7.9m), in second place overall on 61 points, comes in having scored 29 in his first three home appearances.

Another midfielder in form is Jude Bellingham (€9.0m), whose two assists against Salzburg last week helped him to a Matchday 7 score of nine points, making it 17 – from his overall total of 26 – in his last two games. Michael Olise (€6.7m) has scored 28 of his 36 points from just two games, against GNK Dinamo and Shakhtar Donetsk, as Bayern München conclude at home to Slovan Bratislava, while Benfica's Benjamin Rollheiser (€4.0m) is the midfield bench pick.

Forwards

With the Champions League's top scorer Robert Lewandowski, whose 53 points also puts him clear at the head of the Fantasy forwards ranking, a rotation risk and Vinícius Júnior suspended, Julián Alvarez (€8.3m) looks to be one of the safer picks among the higher-scoring strikers. His Atlético de Madrid team visit eliminated Salzburg with the Argentinian looking to add to his five goals in his last three Champions League appearances, including two to see off Leverkusen last week.

Also on target on Matchday 7 was Erling Haaland (€11.0m); his Manchester City side ultimately succumbed to defeat at Paris Saint-Germain but the Norwegian was also on target in Saturday's Premier League fixture, making it six goals in six games in all competitions. Haaland has struck twice in two of his three home Champions League appearances in 2024/25. Viktor Gyökeres (€7.9m) drew a blank at the weekend, ending a five-game scoring streak – seven goals in all – for Sporting CP, who finish at home to Bologna with their Swedish striker having already hit four goals in Lisbon in this season's competition.