Fantasy Champions League Picks for Wednesday

The English teams continued to struggle in the Champions League on Tuesday as both Arsenal and Chelsea lost, and they weren’t alone. Roma stumbled against BATE and Barcelona needed two late goals and some magic from Luis Suarez to survive their first Champions League match without Lionel Messi.

Even so, if you took our advice and loaded up on Bayern players then you probably did quite well and won some cash in Mondogoal’s one-day fantasy Champions League contests.

No time to dwell any more on Tuesday’s results. Wednesday brings a whole new opportunity to create a new team and win cash on Mondogoal. Here’s our breakdown of players to target at each position for the Wednesday contests.

Keeper
Neuer made for a pretty clear cut choice on Tuesday, but we will not be that fortunate on Wednesday. The top option is Jan Oblak, Atletico Madrid v. Benfica (£10.9m) but the price is not favourable and the matchup leaves something to be desired as well. Still, better teams than Benfica have left the Fortress Calderon goalless. We will have to see how the other positions shake out before deciding to pay for Oblak.

The remaining keepers are almost as expensive (or in Navas’ case, more expensive) with tougher matchups. Buffon anchors a team in serious disarray in Serie A against a pretty decent Spanish side in Sevilla. PSG head to the Ukraine, which makes Trapp somewhat of a punt. That leaves two Premier League keepers, both with enough savings to justify consideration. David De Gea, Manchester United v. Wolfsburg (£7.0m) will likely face a fair bit of traffic but is in fine form and at Old T. After appearing nearly invincible in their opening matches in the Prem, City have fallen on harder times of late. Joe Hart may miss out again which would leave Wily Caballero, Manchester City at Borussia Monchengladbach (£6.3m) as a reasonably priced fill in. In the end, we hope to afford Oblak.

Defender
Each of the Atletico defenders are options at the Vicente Calderon, though due to his attacking qualities we tend to opt for Juanfran, Atletico Madrid v. Benfica (£8.9m) given the choice. Marcelo, Real Madrid at Malmo (£11.7m) carries a price commensurate with his ability, but should be on the attack in Sweden.

As usual, however, we will aim to save budget on defenders to chase goals in the midfield and striker positions. The best reasonably priced defender may be Gregory Van der Wiel, Paris Saint-Germain at Shakhtar Donetsk (£7.4m) who appears to have worked his way back into the starting lineup. The trip to Ukraine is far from favourable, but we are not presented much in the way of options at defence. Antonio Valencia, Manchester United v. Wolfsburg (£6.1m) was given another chance at right back due to the plethora of injuries facing United and fared well enough at the weekend.

Midfielder
The first player to put in your team is arguably Isco, Real Madrid at Malmo (£10.6m) who is in fine form given the opportunity to replace James. Juan Cuadrado, Juventus v. Sevilla (£9.8m) is closer to his Fiorentina form than the Chelsea disaster, and is still reasonably priced. Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester City at Borussia Monchengladbach (£13.3m) has quickly established himself as a star for City, and certainly has no qualms about delivering against his former Bundesliga rivals. Despite a very difficult matchup with PSG, we are itching to roll out Alex Teixeira, Shakhtar Donetsk v. Paris Saint-Germain (£8.6m) who is underpriced relative to his potential contributions.
Two cheaper options to consider are Saul Niguez, Atletico Madrid v. Benfica (£5.3m) who should be able to contribute 4-5 points whilst allowing for more expensive players around him, and Pontus Wernbloom, CSKA Moscow v. PSV Eindhoven (£5.3m), equally unsexy but gives the gift of flexibility. PSV also will be fat and happy following their home win against United, and will likely sleepwalk through their encounter in Russia.

Forward
The first question is what to make of Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid at Malmo (£21.7m). The price is steep, so genuine concern over his recent three games is justifiable. The counterargument of course being, he is Ronaldo and this is Malmo. He delivered a hattrick against a more talented side in the first Champions League match against Shakhtar. Don’t overthink it. But if you need the £9m savings, Benzema is certainly a great choice as well. Or you could work to pair them.

Form striker Anthony Martial, Manchester United v. Wolfsburg (£4.7m) remains overlooked by Mondogoal. He is the key to fitting Ronaldo and the majority of other desirable players. Fit again Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paris Saint-Germain at Shakhtar Donetsk (£16.5m) is always a threat and Antoine Griezmann, Atletico Madrid v. Benfica (£10.3m) continues to justify Atletico’s decision to let Mandzukic get away.

Over £10,000 was won on Tuesday by fantasy managers on Mondogoal, select your Champions League fantasy team now to try to win your share today and every matchday!

Remember, you can have anyone you want on Mondogoal, but you can’t have everyone you want, so use your budget wisely.

Tom Devine is an accomplished daily fantasy football player and Editor at Fantasy Football Backers, a daily fantasy football community. Follow them @FFBackers on twitter.