Champions League Player Picks: Round of 16 Second Leg

The first leg of the round of 16 didn’t disappoint: 24 goals scored and four clean sheets kept across the eight fixtures. The highlight of the first leg was PSG thumping the Catalans at the Camp Nou, scoring four. Koeman’s men are now under severe pressure to repeat their heroics from 2017, but this time away from home.

In my opinion, no team is guaranteed a place in the quarter finals yet; some teams have a mountain to climb, but that’s nothing they haven’t done before on multiple occasions. Let’s jump straight to the player picks for the upcoming round of matches in an attempt to maximize your gains in fantasy football.

For more on Week 1 of Leg 2, see MiQ’s preview, and then rate David’s squad!

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GOALKEEPERS

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Wojciech Szczesny (€5.5m, Juventus vs Porto)

The Italians were beaten away from home in the first leg, but we all know how dominant they are playing at home. It’s going to be a massive task for the Portuguese team to keep the likes of Ronaldo and Morata silent, so I anticipate they’ll spend most of this game trying to protect their lead. That will result in little threat to the Juventus goal. I fully expect the Polish shot-stopper to come out of this game with a clean sheet, and Juventus should get through.

Ederson (€6m, Manchester City vs Monchengladbach)

Manchester City is absolutely rampant right now, so it’s hard to see the Germans turn this around. The Citizens are on a winning streak of 21 matches, so facing them at the Etihad is an uphill task that M’gladbach will have to work very hard to overcome. I don’t see this going any other way than a comfortable victory for Pep’s men, and I’m backing their defense to keep the back door shut. The Brazilian is a great pick for this week as well as for the rest of the tournament.

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DEFENDERS

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Joao Cancelo (€5.8m, Manchester City vs M’gladbach)

The Portuguese has impressed in the UCL this season with three clean sheets, an assist and a goal so far in his 41 points. He’s a great attacking threat, and City is on fire right now, so this fixture a great opportunity for him to build on his amazing tally. I can see him getting at least a clean sheet out of this fixture with attacking returns a very good possibility as well.

Mats Hummels (€5.3m, Dortmund vs Sevilla)

The German center-back has been in great form in the Champions League this season with 39 points to his name already. He has made an impressive 62 ball recoveries and 2 clean sheets in the tournament so far. Sevilla will be under pressure to score goals in this game, which will leave them exposed at times, so I’m expecting Hummels to show his attacking prowess from set-pieces.

Joshua Kimmich (€6.6m, Bayern vs Lazio)

The Germans won the first leg comfortably away from home and now are in the driver’s seat for the return leg. As good as Lazio is, I can’t see this tie turning around, so I am expecting Bayern to cruise to another comfortable victory with Mr. Reliable Kimmich returning decent points for his owners. You can’t go wrong with this pick.

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MIDFIELDERS

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Mo Salah (€11.6m, Liverpool vs Leipzig)

Liverpool is going through one of the toughest spells in the Klopp era, but one man has been consistantly performing well and scoring goals: the Egyptian king. Having earned 43 points so far, he’s surprisingly owned by only 19% of fantasy managers. Even though the Reds are losing too many games domestically, I still expect Salah to score goals and get them over the line in the second leg. It’s weird to say this for him, but he could prove to be a differential as well.

Jadon Sancho (€10m, Dortmund vs Sevilla)

Now, this is one of the biggest differentials you can pick for the second leg. Dortmund will face a Sevilla side under great pressure to score goals, and that will result in plenty of opportunities for the Englishman to show his lethality in front of the goal. At just 4% ownership, if you’re someone who likes playing a risky game, there aren’t many better picks.

Ivan Rakitic (€7.2m Dortmund vs Sevilla)

If Sevilla have any chance of making it to the next round, they’ll certainly need their Croatian talisman to be at his absolute best. I still don’t think they’ll be able to turn this tie around on the road, but they’ll still score goals, and I am backing the former Barcelona midfielder to be at the center of whatever Lopetegui’s men create. He’s a great one-week pick with only 7% ownership.

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FORWARDS

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Erling Haaland (€11.1m, Dortmund vs Sevilla)

We’ve run out of superlatives for this guy. He just keeps on scoring goals for fun, becoming a fantasy must-have. He sits on eight UCL goals and 44 points. He really doesn’t need any more justification. Just pick him and you’re almost guaranteed a steady flow of points. With 36% ownership, he can do some serious damage to your rankings if you don’t have him.

Cristiano Ronaldo (€12.1m, Juventus vs Porto)

We all know about his potential in this tournament, so let’s just skip that part and discuss why he is a great pick for the second leg. Juventus needs to reverse this tie after losing the first leg in Portugal. This is exactly the kind of pressure Ronaldo thrives in. It’s like we can already see what’s coming, so just build your team around him because Juventus is still likely to go deep in the tournament. So to save you the hassle of bringing him in later, I highly suggest you to get him if you haven’t already.

Luiz Suarez (€9.8m, Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid)

He’s my maverick pick for this round of matches. Atletico is down one goal from the first leg and needing a result away from home to advance. Now, it’s going to be an uphill task, but Simeone’s men have proved themselves before on occasions like this, and it won’t surprise me if they repeat something like that again at Stamford Bridge. I can see Suarez getting something out of this tricky fixture, and he’s just 6% owned, so if you believe in Atletico’s ability to pull this off, he’s a great option for the remainder of the tournament.

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I hope this article was able to help you a bit in making some changes to your team. Good luck everyone, and may you all have green arrows!

Cheers,

Prakhar

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Have you picked your team yet? Whom do you have your eyes on who has been mentioned above? Is there anyone who has been left out of this article whom you would recommend? Which match do you most want to watch as a fan? Please let us know in the comments!

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