UCL Fantasy Matchday 3: Tips, Captain, Picks & Team

Two tough rounds of UCL Fantasy are now behind us. And now we have time to prepare for UEFA Champions League Fantasy Matchday 3.

Here are our UCL Fantasy tips regarding the best captain, best picks with good fixtures, balls recovered, and our own scout team selection.

Hopefully, our tips will help you to make a good decision about your fantasy squad before the first kick-off of the MD3 of the Champions League.

Let’s dive in.

Do you want to get better at UCL Fantasy? Read our article about Essential Tips for UCL Fantasy Success.

1. Tips & Strategy for Matchday 3 of the UEFA Fantasy Champions League

In Matchday 4 of UCL Fantasy, we are going to see the same fixtures as in Matchday 3 (but in reverse).

So, what is the best strategy for the next two matchdays? How can we exploit these reverse fixtures?

Matchday 3 Strategy

Well, basically, it is all about easy fixtures and balls recovered.

Let’s take a closer look.

1. At first, target easy fixtures. Focus on premium players who are likely to haul and who play against very easy oppositions in MD3 and MD4 (Kane, Sané, Haaland, Alvarez, Fernandes, Saka…)
2. Alongside these few heavy hitters focus on cheap players who have stable output in balls recovered. They will score an extra 2-3 points for you every weak (like Hummels, Otamendi, Kim..)
3. Pick defenders that have a high chance of a clean sheet in MD3 & MD4 (Manchester City, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United…)
4. In the end, pick your squad players from weaker teams that have now two good fixtures in a row. For example, players from Porto, Leipzig, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord… Now, the important question. Which players from those teams are worth a look? We will look at them later in the article

Matchday 3 Tips & Best time to use wildcard

• If you have not used your wildcard until now, probably this is the best time to deploy it as it allows you to exploit reverse fixtures. There is no point in using a wildcard in MD4, as fixtures in MD4 are the same as in the MD3 (so if you want to use the wildcard in MD4, do it now, do not wait). And if you do not use it in MD4, you could use it MD5 but that would mean you would create a team for 2 matchdays only (MD5, MD6) as we all get unlimited transfers after MD6. And MD6 will be full of rotation. That leaves Matchday 3 as the best time to wildcard if you did not use it in the previous round.
• Make sure you have 2 great captaincy options, one for each day
• Make sure your goalkeepers play on different days so you can use subs on them
• Have around 8 players for Tuesday and around 7 players for Wednesday to use subs efficiently

2. Fixtures to target in UCL Fantasy Matchday 3

Now let’s use our Odds to probability calculator to find out which fixtures we should target in Matchday 3 according to bookies odds.

Tuesday fixtures

• Manchester United vs. Copenhagen: The Red Devils 74 % to win, 40 % to score 2.5+ goals
• Inter Milan vs. Salzburg: Nerazzurri 72 % to win, 42 % to score 2.5+ goals
• Galatasary vs. Bayern: Bayern 64 % to win, 43 % to score 2.5+ goals
• Braga vs. Real Madrid: Galacticos 62 % to win, 40 % to score 2.5+ goals

Wednesday fixtures

• Barcelona vs. Sachtar: Blaugranas 82 % to win, 57 % to score 2.5+ goals
• YB Bern vs. Manchester City: Citizens 81 % to win, 51 % to score 2.5+ goals
• Leipzig vs. CZ Beograd: Leipzig 76 % to win, 53 % to score 2.5+ goals
• Newcastle vs. Dortmund: The Magpies 56 % to win, 27 % to score 2.5+ goals

Find 2.5+ goals odds for all teams in our article: Champions League Over 2.5 Goals Odds.

4. Best captain for Fantasy Champions League Matchday 3

Let’s look at who do we consider to be the best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 3.

Tuesday captain pick: Kane (GAL (A))

For Tuesday, the most appealing fixtures for captaincy are Galatasaray vs. Bayern, Inter vs. Salzburg and Manchester United vs. Copenhagen. 

We will know the Bayern and Inter lineup before the deadline of MD3! That is going to be great advantage for UCL Fantasy mangers on wildcard or on limitless wildcard. They can bring in the Byern player they want just before the deadline after they know whether he starts.

Other captain picks for Tuesday: Lautaro Martinez, Sané, Bruno Fernandes

Wednesday captain pick: Haaland (YB (A))

The standout fixtures for the captaincy on Wednesday are YB Bern vs Manchester City, Barcelona vs. Sachtar.

A lot of players from those games could do very well.

We picked Haaland from them as our captain for Wednesday. He is a proven UCL fantasy asset, a talisman for Manchester City, despite he did not score in the first two rounds.

It is a boring captain pick, but we do not try to shoot for the moon with our captaincy picks – that strategy does not work. We like the stability Haaland offers as our backup captain if Kane fails to deliver.

Other captain picks for Wednesday: Alvarez, Mbappe, Felix, Openda

When should you change your captain? Read our system for switching the captaincy here.

5. Players great at recovering balls

After two matchdays we have a better picture about players that are good at balls recovered. Players who can consistently do the job and score extra 2-3 points for you matchday after matchday.

If you are interested to know, which players did well in balls recovered during the last two seasons, check our article about Balls Recovering Heroes.

These players have the most balls recovered this season after two matchdays:

⚽The most balls recovered after #MD2 of #UCLFantasy.

Great budget enablers with stable points output even if their team will not keep a clean sheet.

🥇 23 – Hummels
🥈 21 – Otamendi
🥉 19 – Leite
⚽ 18 – Tomori, Škriniar, Kim#ChampionsLeague #MD3 #UCL #FantasyFootball

— Fantasy Football Reports (@FplReports) October 7, 2023

Most MOTM before Matchday 3

There are three players that got the MOTM award (and an extra 3 fantasy points) in each of the first two matchdays and those are:

• Leao,
• Bellingham,
• and Brais Mendez.

Find out which players got the most MOTM awards in the previous seasons in our article: The most MOTM awards in UCL Fantasy

6. Bookies odds

As usual, we looked at what bookies think about the Matchday 3 of UCL Fantasy. We checked the clean sheet odds to determine which teams are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the MD3 and goalscoring odds to determine which players are most likely to score a goal in MD3.

It can be very helpful when selecting the defense of your UCL Fantasy team or choosing your captain. We used our Odds to probability calculator for converting bookies’ odds into probabilities.

Clean sheet odds for MD3

Bookies favor Manchester City (53 %) and Barcelona (51 %) to most likely keep a clean sheet. Basically, you need at least one defender from each of these two teams for MD3 and MD4.

Inter Milan and Manchester United follow.

 

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Bookies expect 7.76 clean sheets in Matchday 3. You can find the full Champions League clean sheet odds table here.

Goalscoring odds for MD3

Haaland (58%) leads the goalscoring odds, followed by Kane (47%) and Lautaro Martinez (46%).

Check Any Time Goalscorer, 2 + goals, and hattrick odds in our article Champions League Goalscoring Odds.

7. UCL Fantasy Team Selection Matchday 3

Let’s finish our preview for the Matchday 3 of UCL Fantasy with our scout picks. This is a good inspiration for managers on their wildcard (regular one). If you plan to use your limitless wildcard in MD3, check our limitless squad here.

8. Fantasy Champions League Tips

Find more tips, strategies, and picks for UCL Fantasy in these articles:

• Beginner? Read our guide: How to play UCL Fantasy?
• Confused about the rules? Read the Official guidelines of the game
• Do you want to get better at UCL Fantasy? Read our article about Essential Tips for UCL Fantasy Success.

Feel free to JOIN our UCL fantasy mini-league for the 2023/24 season using our league code 50U1FM5M03.

Good luck in UCL Fantasy Matchday 3.