Champions League Fantasy Football: Tips for Matchday 1

Managers on #UCLfantasy, presented by PlayStation, may be wondering how best to set up their teams for Matchday 1. UEFA.com is on hand to map out some key strategies.

Matchday 1 is unique

Unlike other matchdays in the league phase, the opening set of fixtures are spread over three days, rather than the usual two. Six matches will take on Tuesday 16 September, followed by six on Wednesday and a further six on Thursday.

So how does this impact Fantasy managers?

Three captaincy opportunities

The opening matchday offers three chances to select a high-scoring captain, so Fantasy bosses should consider including at least one player from each day with the potential to record significant totals. Should the chosen captain on Tuesday and Wednesday not deliver the desired points, owning a high-impact player on Thursday could ensure your team still ends the matchday in a strong position in your mini-leagues.

With this in mind, there is perhaps greater incentive to opt for a differential captain in Tuesday's fixtures, safe in the knowledge that there are two back-up choices should they be needed later in the matchday.

Select the right players for the bench

For those accustomed to the format of Fantasy, the usual substitution rules apply on Matchday 1, but extra care will be needed to ensure that points are not left on the bench.

Any players involved in fixtures taking place on Thursday should start on the bench; if squads include more than three outfield players who feature on Thursday, some players will need to be in the starting XI.

In theory, Matchday 1 offers a higher chance of maximising the points gained from your whole squad, as the lowest-scoring players from across both Tuesday and Wednesday's fixtures can be swapped out for bench players.

That covers the specifics involved in Matchday 1, but what else should be considered when creating an initial squad?

Plan for the long term

As we learned last season with the increased number of matchdays before the knockout stage, planning for multiple fixtures could be a wise approach for Fantasy managers looking to save their Wildcard and Limitless chips for later use.

This involves studying the fixture list and targeting players from teams who managers think will score well on Fantasy in the early stages. This should reduce the need to make multiple transfers in the first few matchdays.

Identifying teams that have two home games in their first three league phase fixtures is also a good starting point for filling out a Matchday 1 squad.

Rotating goalkeepers

In many cases, goalkeepers who play on different days across Matchday 1 will then play on the same day in future matchdays, so care needs to be taken when selecting rotating goalkeepers.

Goalkeeper is not typically a position that Fantasy managers want to use their free transfers on, so paying careful consideration to which goalkeepers play on different days in multiple matchdays is a smart long-term move.