In this article, we will look at the best goalkeepers to pick for your Fantasy Champions League team in MD1.
This article is part of the series: UCL Fantasy Matchday 1: Tips, Best Pick, Captain and Team Selection
We will explore goalkeepers at each price option: budget enablers, midpriced picks and premium options.
Rotation pairs
Important: Pick goalkeepers who play on different days in MD1-MD7 so you can use substitutions on them.
Here are rotation pairs:
- Ajax — PSV
- Arsenal — Chelsea
- Arsenal — Galatasaray
- Atalanta — Neapol
- Barcelona — Real Madrid
- Bayern — Dortmund
- Bayern — Leverkusen
- Bayern — Manchester City
- Bayern — Villarreal
- Benfica — Monako
- Benfica — Sporting
- Chelsea — FC Kodaň
- Club Bruggy — Royale Union SG
- Dortmund — Frankfurt
- Dortmund — Liverpool
- FC Kodaň — Marseille
- Frankfurt — Villarreal
- Galatasaray — PSG
- Inter — Juventus
- Juventus — Kajrat Almaty
- Leverkusen — Liverpool
- Liverpool — Manchester City
- Liverpool — Villarreal
- Marseille — PSG
- Newcastle — Tottenham
Budget Goalkeepers to consider (4m – 4.5m)
Jaroš (4.0m, Ajax) – 4/10
- New signing from Liverpool
- already played 5/5 matches for Ajax in Eredivisie
- first 3 fixtures pretty tough, then nice run, could be an option for MD4 wildcard
Milinkovič Savič/Meret (4.0m, Napoli) – 5/10
- Well, it seemed that we had an amazing 4m GK in the game, but then Napoli signed Milinković Savić.
- Pay attention to the Napoli press conference and predicted lineups.
- The one who will be Napoli’s number 1, will be amazing budget pick for our UCL Fantasy teams, but now it is hard to tell which one
Scherpen (4.0m, Union SG) – 2/10
- New signing for Union SG
- Started last 4/4 matches for Union SG
- but mix of fixtures, and Union SG is of the weakest teams in this campaign
Joan García (4.5m, Barcelona) – 8/10
- Barcelona’s new first-choice GK
- Amazing budget value, could be set and forget budget pick
- However, Barcelona tends to score a lot of goals, and sometimes concedes a few at the same time
Chevalier (4.5m, PSG) – 7.5/10
- PSG’s new No.1 after Donnarumma left
- another amazing budget value
- but 4 of first 5 matches are pretty difficult for PSG, still could be set and forget pick
Di Gregorio (4.5m, Juventus) – 3.5/10
- we recommended him last season as well, and it was a terrible pick
- But we need to mention him again, as he is a budget pick playing for a good defensive team
- Tough early UCL fixtures, later schedule improves
- Rotation risk with Perin, so needs monitoring
Trubin (4.5m, Benfica) – 7/10
- mainly pick for MD1, Benfice 2nd for clean sheet odds in Matchday 1
- A pick for those who plan to wildcard early (like MD2)
Carnesecchi (4.5m, Atalanta) – 6/10
- needs to be mentioned mainly because of his performance in the last UCL campaign (5 CS in 8 games in the League phase)
- good at saves
- Tough MD1 vs PSG, but excellent fixtures after, so one to pick if you plan to Wildcard in MD2
Mid-Priced Goalkeepers to consider (5m)
Given how Garcia and Chevalier are priced, it is hard to imagine that there could be other picks that would offer more “value” considering their price.
- Vicario (5.0m, Tottenham) – 4/10 – Tottenham has shown a pretty good defensive performance in the Premier League so far, good fixtures up to MD4
- Rui Silva (5.0m, Sporting) – 3/10 – short-term pick for MD1 only as Sporting is top for clean sheet odds in MD1
- Pope/Sanchez/Kobel – other standout options at this price point, they will keep clean sheets in some good fixtures
Premium Goalkeepers to consider (5.5m – 6m)
Realize that all goalkeepers at this price point (5.5m – 6m) offer good clean sheet potential and lie almost on the same indifference curve when it comes to the expected output.
- Sommer (6m, Inter) – 8.5/10 – Inter very good defensively last season, amazing first 4 fixtures, great at save points
- Raya (5.5m, Arsenal) – 8.5/10 – Arsenal also reliable defensively, with nice 4 opening fixtures
- Courtois – good at save points, reliable pick
- Donnaruma, Alisson – they will keep clean sheets, the only question is, are they worth the price, when Garcia and Chavelier are 4.5m?
Tips for picking the best goalkeepers for your UCL Fantasy team
With goalkeepers, you always want a keeper that has a very high chance of a clean sheet.
But what is crucial, it is to have two playing goalkeepers – one that plays on Tuesday and one that plays on Wednesday.
That way, if your Tuesday’s goalkeeper did not score enough points (we use 4 points as our threshold) you can replace him with a goalkeeper that is yet to play on Wednesday.
This will help you maximize the UCL Fantasy points gained from your goalkeepers. Also, when considering a goalkeeper for your UCL Fantasy team, you always have to take a look at fixtures and asses whether a certain keeper has the potential for a clean sheet. Does he have a tough or easy fixture?
You can use our Champions League Clean Sheets Odds to find teams, who are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the next round of Champions League.
And do not forget to consider goalkeepers who are good at saves or penalty saves. You can find which goalkeepers made the most saves in the previous season in our article: Goalkepeers with the most saves in UCL Fantasy.
Now let’s look at goalkeepers at each price option: budget enablers, midpriced picks and premium options.
Here is our watchlist. (Go to the top).
