UCL MD-12 Rate My Team (Sraxan)

Kylian Mbappé not on the scoresheet? SIX Dortmund players in the team of the week??

The Bayern vs Real Madrid 2-2 draw at Munich was a joy to watch. Then Dortmund holding 1-0 against the Parisians one-upped that, with the woodwork (twice) deciding the resulting scoreline.

It’s all to play for in the second leg, and in UCL Fantasy too. This is the penultimate round, perhaps the last chance to move up in your mini leagues before we’re all confined to having virtually identical assets in the final.

HOW I FARED

Having nine of my 14 eligible players playing in the Bayern v Madrid tie, I seemingly placed most of my bets on this game. The ever-reliable Kane returned a one-goal tally of six points, and Sané’s thunderbolt got him 7. Musiala and Rodrygo earned one penalty (+2) each, returning a respectable five and four points.

I was looking for a differential goal from Valverde, but there was hardly any impact from either him or the usually prolific Bellingham. We were treated to a typically incisive Real Madrid performance, scoring twice from four big chances. That would have been 4/4 if not for a pair of great Manuel Neuer saves.

Guerreiro, despite his form, surprisingly did not start. He did come on eventually at half time but ended up blanking like the rest of the lot.

The Dortmund v Paris game was enthralling to watch but bittersweet for fantasy captain returns. I put out a team for a win-win scenario, captaining Mbappé against two Dortmund defenders. Either way, I would get a decent return. Sadly, my captain-2 blanked, costing a potential 4x2=8 points from a goal.

But this was fine, right? Most people should’ve captained Mbappé too, and many fellow Mbappé-captainers would not have had a double Dortmund defense. I gained the lost eight points back from two Dortmund clean sheets in Hummels and Maatsen.

Sravan

Overall, in a round sparsely sprinkled with fantasy assets like goals and clean sheets, this was reasonable return. Congrats to the psychics who captained Vini Jr (and the semi-psychics who captained Kane but knew when to hold’em).

WHAT I PLAN

Both ties are way too even to lean into any one club with our transfers. Anyone can easily go through, and clean sheets are again going to be hard to come by. This year’s UCL just keeps giving, doesn’t it?

From a clean sheet perspective, the best possible scenario is a 0-0 tie in the Real Madrid v Bayern match, taking the game to penalties after giving both sets of defenders clean sheet bonuses. A similar 0-0 result in the PSG v Dortmund game would return maximum points, safely.

With Carvajal returning from suspension, he will probably take Vazquez’s spot. Raphael Guerreiro played and injured himself in a dead-wood Bundesliga game. These are the two liabilities on my roster, so I plan to transfer them out.

It would be quite gutsy to press my Dortmund double-up by buying a third, but I honestly think that isn’t a bet that would pay off against a desperate PSG playing at Le Parc des Princes. This is also a team that turned 2-3 deficit into a 6-4 aggregate win, winning the second tie 4-1 against Barcelona. Beraldo is an enticing option — He would slot in for the injured Lucas Hernandez and is also economically priced at €4.6m.

From the other tie, I want to have one Real Madrid defender for sure, if not two. Luck or not, this is a defense that held Man City to only one goal from 33 shots. None of the defenders are known for their attacking exploits, Dani Carvajal having a slight upper hand. From Bayern, Mazraoui is gradually rediscovering his Ajax attacking form. His price, though, is on the high side, at €5.3m. If you were to filter “cheap”, “starting” and “Bayern” defender, you’d presumably be left with only one result, Eric Dier (€4.5m).

But since safety in the UCL is far-fetched, I’m keen to shake up my attacking options as well. Sané and Musiala are the only reliable attacking options in midfield — Everyone else is listed as a forward in the game, so my midfield stays as is. Already having an attacking trident of Kane, Mbappé and Rodrygo upfront, my team already looks good to go on paper.

But after keenly observing performances in the first leg, and knowing that goals are not going to come by the truckload, I need to be picky here. Vinicius Jr and Dembélé really stood out by the number of chances they created, so I must find a way to accommodate at least one of these guys into the (sadly limited) three forward slots.

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Sraxan

Here’s how my initial draft looks. At this point, it is just mixing and matching among the choices I’ve listed above, such that I can get them all under my budget cap. I will be waiting for the deadline when we get to see the PSG v Dortmund lineups before finalizing our MD-12 transfers.

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So how are you improving your UCL Fantasy team? Are you still clearing out deadwood from the last knockout? Do you face a late fitness check? Are any of your players threatened by some star returning? How’s budget treating you? Are you finding more budget leeway as our choices are narrowed, forcing us to pick second-drawer starters? Please log in to post your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

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