🔒My team for #MD1 Fantasy Champions League

 

    Last season OR 7.9k,  I want better one this season. :D

After tons of changes finally i have made this team. I think there’s a good balance here between premium and budget players, and it also looks solid in terms of matchday distribution.
In the first matchday I have four players playing on the last day, but in the next one I’ll have 10 out of 15 playing on Tuesday.



Goalkeepers
Jaros + Kovar – this pair seems to be the best option for 8.5.

    The fixtures aren’t ideal, but only in one matchday they both have a very tough game, so it’s not that bad. These aren’t particularly strong defenses, especially in the UCL context, but that’s the trade-off. For 8.5 it’s hard to get something better, and I don’t want to overpay for a goalkeeper who very rarely gets assists or goals and doesn’t earn ball recovery points at all.
    I just think clean sheets are worth less in this shorter format, and picking players with a higher ceiling in the short term makes more sense.

This pair also fits my chip plan: team for MD1–6 and 8, LL7, WC in the quarterfinals.

Defenders

• Premium
  This was my biggest dilemma. In the end, I’m going with two premium, i'd love Hakimi, but i am not sure about these fixtures. Dumfries and Grimaldo are highly offensive with favorable fixtures at the start, so besides attacking returns there’s also a chance of clean sheets.

• Huijsen – boring pick, i hope he won't get more red cards, high clean sheet possibility, some attacking potential, i don't expect too much ball recoveries points though

• Otamendi– very good opening fixture and excellent ball recovery stats. With this schedule, Otamendi is not really a set & forget, but if things don’t go as planned and I can’t move him after MD1, I won’t be too upset if he stays longer. I was thinking about Araujo (4.0), but i am worried, that he might be benched in some MDs once Dedic returns.

• Bellanova – one of the better 4.0 defenders, very attacking, plays wing-back, sometimes takes set pieces. PSG in MD1 is tough, but after that the fixtures are great.

Midfielders

• Raphinha – for a second i had Vinicius, because i really wanted to triple Real, but he might be benched, so i picked Raphinha, safer option

• Guler- second best option from Madrid, set pieces, great stats, really cheap, playing a lot minutes, the only disadvantage is Jude return, there might be some rotations after that, on MD2/3, but they can also play together sometimes, so we will see

• Olise – phenomenal last season, solid start in this one, Bayern is extremely attacking, and I’m hoping he proves it even against Chelsea. But mainly I’m picking him for the MD2 match vs Pafos away and MD3 Brugge at home.

• Aursnes – i am not sure about this pick. I mean he is right mid, with great fixture, but his stats aren't impressive. I am taking him over Akliouche because of playing day one.

• Goncalves – him or Trincao, basically a coin flip. Both are excellent options. I’m choosing Goncalves for the slightly better stats. Both take set pieces, but Trincao has more secure minutes. I think Goncalves has a bit higher ceiling, but I could be very wrong here. 50/50.

The 10.5 trio (forwards)
    I picked them mainly for guaranteed quality. In this year’s UCL, there aren’t that many tempting expensive midfield options, with many players at affordable prices, so putting 31.5m into this trio makes sense to me. Guaranteed minutes, penalties, team talismans, high xG, constant goal threat, reliable captaincy choices.
    Of course, Suarez could punish me the most, then Lautaro/Thuram, or even Guirassy and Gyökeres. But even if one of my attacking pillars flops, I can easily swap them for someone else. If I had Suarez, I honestly wouldn’t know where to put the extra 5.5m, and I’d struggle to bring in any of this trio for MD2 when each of them has a great fixture.