After a long break, UCL fantasy is back and organizers decided to reward us all, patient fantasy managers, with unlimited transfers ahead of quarterfinals. We prepare for our readers short guide with useful information and tips for the Quarter-finals.
Tips for UCL Fantasy Quarter-finals
Best captain picks
In order to maximally exploit captaincy potential in your team, we suggest you should pick 4 strong captain candidates, every one playing on different day. Then, if your captain blank, you can switch C to another captain candidate who is yet to play until you gain satisfying amount of captain points (unless your all 4 captain candidates blank).
We selected 4 captain contenders for Champions League quarterfinals, all of them play on different days, so it will allow us to switch captaincy if our first (or second or third) captain blank.
4. Neymar (ATA)
With fitness concerns about Kylian Mbappe and suspension of Angel Di Maria, we consider Neymar as the best captain pick from the first match. He scored 5 goals and has 2 assists in his last 5 matches for PSG after the long break (3 friendly matches and 2 Cup matches).
Brazilian played only 4 matches in actual Champions League season, but he managed to score 24 fantasy points in them with 3 goals and 2 assists and he could easily add to that record in the match against Atalanta.
3. Marcel Sabitzer (ATL)
Marcel Sabitzer is the fifth most scoring player in the game. He has been very productive in the group stage and round of 16, where he scored 4 goals, registered 2 assists and recovered 28 balls. His productivity has gained him 50 fantasy points in just 7 matches.
He is recovering balls at the rate of 4 per match, what increases his points ceiling. It won’t be an easy game against solid Atletico defense, but with the absence of Timo Werner we expect Marcel Szabiter to be main man for Leipzig and that’s why he is our captain choice for the Thursday game.
2. Robert Lewandowski (BAR)
Lewandowski has been unstoppable this Champions League season. He scored astonishing 13 goals and 4 assists in just 7 games and collected 83 fantasy points, what is more than any other player. Except his no-show on matchday 6, he returned fantasy points in every match and failed to register a double-digit haul only in two games.
Polish international is the most consistent and probably the best player in this UCL fantasy season. And when you don’t know who to captain, just captain the best player.
1. Raheem Sterling (LYO)
Since the restart of the Premier League after the break, Raheem Sterling has been the most productive Manchester City player when he managed to score 9 goals and assist other 4 in 9 domestic games.
Sterling has brought his form to the Champions League too and scored against Real Madrid on Friday. We think he is the best pick from Manchester City players, and we expect him to do well in favorable fixture against Lyon.
Differential picks
If you are looking for some low-owned players that could bring you solid amount of fantasy points and to gain some ground over your mini-league rivals, do not overlook these two differential picks.
Mauro Icardi (ATA)
Thanks to the expected absence of injured Kylian Mbappe and suspended Angel Di Maria, Mauro Icardi should feature against Atalanta. He is owned only by 4 percent of managers, but he scored 5 goals in 6 matches in this year edition of Champion League.
Phil Foden (LYO)
The youngster Phil Foden seems to be preferred option ahead of Ryiad Mahrez in the Manchester City starting XI. He was showing solid performances in the Premier League after the break, he 5 goals and 1 assist in that period. Only 1 percent of UCL Fantasy managers owns him and with cost just 5.4m he could be great differential in the match against Lyon if he starts.
Clean sheets probabilities for Quarter-finals
In order to help you with decisions about the defense of your UCL fantasy squad, we converted bookies odds into probabilities of keeping a clean sheet for all 8 teams. Bookies assigned the highest probability of keeping a CS to Man City and Atletico, so there is high chance of clean sheets in those two defenses.
| Player | Shots per 90 | Key Passes per 90 | xG per 90 | xA per 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ings | 2.98 | 1.16 | 0.48 | 0.10 |
| Willian | 2.49 | 2.53 | 0.28 | 0.3 |
| De Bruyne | 3.21 | 3.99 | 0.26 | 0.63 |
| Sterling | 3.23 | 1.63 | 0.62 | 0.25 |
Balls recovered heroes
Balls recovered has changed a lot in this season of UCL fantasy. Now you can pick some cheap defensive midfielders or defenders and expect at least 4-5 points per match from them, what is amazing consistency for low price. We picked some players who do well in this statistic.
| Player | Recovered balls per match |
|---|---|
| Thiago Alcantara | 8.71 |
| T. Silva | 8.67 |
| Klostermann | 8.25 |
| Upamecano | 8 |
| Andersen | 7.67 |
| Thomas | 7.5 |
| Felipe | 7.29 |
| Saul | 6.5 |
| Langlet | 6.5 |
| De Roon | 6.25 |
| Laimer | 6.25 |
| Renan Lodi | 6 |
Scout selection for UCL Quarter-finals
We combined all the information above and built our scout squad for next UCL fantasy round. You can find it in the image below.
Source: uclfantasy
Ederson and Gulacsi are our keepers due to solid probability of a clean sheet and total price only of 10.1m.
Laporte and Renan Roni are in our backline because of high chance of clean sheet and Klostermann, Laimer and Silva mainly because of their ability to recover around 6 balls per match what increases their points ceiling and promises returns even if there is no clean sheet from them.
We picked two cheap midfielders Thomas and De Roon. Both are great at recovering balls and we could get 4-5 points from each of them without an attacking return. On the other hand, Sterling, De Bruyne and Sabitzer represent the attacking power of our midfield and all tree are great captain candidates.
Robert Lewandowski is a top scoring player in the UCL Fantasy, so he is included in the squad. And we also expect Neymar and Gabriel Jesus to do well in the absence of their teammates Mbappe and Aguero.
