UCL MD-10 Fantasy Preview (Tuesday Deadline!)

Last Tuesday, the Bernabeu hosted (in my opinion) one of the best matches in football when R Madrid and Man City drew 3-3. That first-leg match sets up a dramatic end to either Man City or Real Madrid this Wednesday.

The other Spanish teams in the tournament each finished the first leg with an important one-goal lead on Wednesday as Barcelona defeated PSG 3-2 in Paris and Atletico defeated Dortmund 2-1 in Madrid. Arsenal and Bayern shared the spoils in London with a 2-2 draw.

Going into MD-10, there is no guarantee on who will advance, but the advantages slightly tip toward Barcelona, Man City and Bayern (for playing at home in the return leg). Atletico may have a 1 goal lead over Dortmund, but the German also play at home, which makes the tie almost 50-50.

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MD-10 FANTASY GUIDE

There is no holding back at any return leg, so each manager will put key players in their starting lineups.

The matches reveling confirmed lineups before our fantasy transfer deadline are Barcelona vs PSG and Dortmund vs Atletico. The matches for our substitution deadline on Wednesday are Man City vs Real Madrid and Bayern vs Arsenal.

As usual, having Man City on Wednesday is a disadvantage for all fantasy managers, but, we should see a starting lineup similar to the first leg (watch for news on Foden’s knock).

Remember your fantasy team can now have up to five players from each club, and you have three free transfers ahead of MD-10 if you changed your mind about the three Dortmund players that you have in your squad and want to hedge your bets by investing in a couple of Atletico players (this was strictly a self note!).

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ROTATION RISK

There may be cases when a player has been fatigued or played many more minutes than he can handle, and his absence will be a surprise for fantasy managers — like De Bruyne in the first leg (food poisoning) and Ederson (rotated). To help you anticipate the level of rotation that each club may go through, the preview below will take a look at each club’s matches before and after MD-10 and where the club stands domestically.

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FIXTURES

Dortmund vs Atletico

Atletico defeated Girona 3-1 earlier today to go 5 points ahead of Bilbao in 4th place and reduce the gap with 3rd place to only 4 points. Atletico will have a fairly easy match against mid table club Alaves after UCL MD-10 so Diego Simeone should be feeling safe enough to push his players against Dortmund on Wednesday.

Marcel Sabitzer scored two goals for Dortmund to secure a 2-1 victory over Monchengladbach earlier today. The win is important for Dortmund to keep up with RB Leipzig since both teams are in 4th place in Bundesliga fighting for the last spot for next season’s UCL. Dortmund however may be extremely distracted in the return leg since the next Bundesliga fixture is against table leaders Leverkusen. this will be a real test for Edin Terzic to comeback against Atletico and then deliver the first ever defeat to Leverkusen in all competitions this season.

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Barcelona vs PSG

I am not sure how this is happening but even though the French Ligue-1 has a game week running this weekend, PSG does not have a fixture. That gives the club a full week to rest before traveling to Barcelona. It seems GW-29 of Ligue-1 is spanning 10 days to accommodate other domestic competitions, and PSG’s next match against Nice is one week after MD-10.

Barcelona on the other hand is playing Cadiz (current score is 0-0) today before hosting PSG. Barcelona and Xavi are under extreme pressure to maintain the lead against a rested PSG team to knock them out and qualify to the semifinals while also in a matter of days turn the tables on Real Madrid in the classico to revive their La Liga chances next weekend.

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Bayern vs Arsenal

Arsenal takes on Aston Villa today in EPL GW-33 ahead of travel to Munich. Man City just completed a 5-1 hammering of Luton Town to take the table’s top spot, and Liverpool just crashed at home to Palace, so the title is begging. The Gunners will also take on Wolves next weekend away from home after returning from Munich. It will be a difficult week on the road for Arteta.

Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Bayern defeated relegation-threatened Koln 2-0 earlier today with a heavily rotated squad. Bayern is now 13 points behind Leverkusen, but only one win is enough for the league to be over. This means that Tuchel’s full focus is on the Champions League and that the club will not give any thought to the away tie against Union Berlin until after MD-10.

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Manchester City vs Real Madrid

Rodri and Grealish had a well earned rest (and Foden sat out with his leg-1 knock) during Man CIty’s 5-1 win over Luton Town Saturday to leapfrog wounded Liverpool. The Citizens sit at the top of the league ahead of Arsenal’s match today. After MD-10, City will host Chelsea next weekend in an FA Cup semifinal.

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

Ancelotti’s dance with Pep takes a new turn when Real Madrid travels to Manchester after an important away 1-0 victory against Mallorca Saturday to ensure La Liga’s 8-point lead is maintained ahead of the classico next weekend. Today’s goal was scored by Tchouameni who will miss the return leg due to suspension. Ancelotti can then take a breather with the return of Nacho and Militao. He was also able to rest several key players ahead of MD-10 including Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Carvajal, Kroos and Camavingha.

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Are three free transfers enough before MD-10? What holes must you fill? are you changing your predictions from one team to another? Do you have a chip left in pocket? Please post your team in the comments and ask our experts for advice. Then share your thoughts and questions below!

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