UCL MD-12 Semifinals Fantasy Preview

English clubs Man City and Liverpool exploited home advantage in the first leg. At the Etihad, Kevin de Bruyne headed Man City’s earliest ever UCL goal, and minutes later Gabriel Jesus capitalised on Alaba’s error to extend the lead. Ferland Mendy then proved his importance to the royal club, replicating of Mahrez’s first goal assist for Benzema to net. The second half witnessed goals from Phil Foden, Vini. Jr., Bernardo Silva and finally Benzema again. The match ended 4-3 in favor of Man City.

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

In Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI dominated the match for most of the 90 minutes, scoring twice. The first goal was an own-goal, a deflection by Villarreal defender Pervis Estupinan forced by a cross from Liverpool captain Henderson. The second goal came a few minutes later when Sadio Mane finished a Mo Salah assist. Villarreal’s attempts to shift to attack failed in front of Liverpool’s quality, but the visiting Spanish fans cheered for the team, satisfied with the achievement of reaching the UCL semifinals.

Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

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MATCH-DAY 12 FANTASY GUIDE

MD-12 is the second leg of the semifinals, to be played on May 3 & 4.

With no teams knocked out in MD-11, UCL fantasy allows fantasy managers only three transfers for MD-12.

After serving his one match suspension in MD-11, Joao Cancelo is now available to start for Pep Guardiola. There are no suspended players going into MD-12.

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Fixtures

Villarreal vs Liverpool

Liverpool and Villarreal each play domestically on Sunday afternoon, against Newcastle and Alaves respectively. Their UCL second leg tie will take place at Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. Unai Emery played the first leg without two of his key players, Alberto and Gerard Moreno; he hopes to have at least one of them rejoin the team for the match. Liverpool is free of major injury worries, and the squad has enough depth to potentially add three more trophies to the EFL cup.

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

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Man City vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid plays today’s match against Espanyol looking for three points to clinch La Liga title. Carlo Ancelotti however is not in a hurry, so he may opt to rest most of his stars in preparation for hosting Man City. Real Madrid has enough matches in La Liga to win the title with ease, but they are at a disadvantage in the UCL after the first leg and will need to take advantage of the pressure on Man City in EPL. The Citizens are only one point ahead of Liverpool domestically. Guardiola is surely not going to let his club’s fate out of his hands by relaxing the best XI to start in each match.

Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images

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MATCHDAY 12 BUILD UP

My fellow UCL expert Dhivakhar is studying MD-12 player picks to give you some ideas for transfers and chip strategies tomorrow, and Guy will publish his strategies and team development for your rating and advice.

You are welcome to post tactics chat and questions in the comments section of this article as well. And of course, I will be posting the UCL Live Chat article on Tuesday. Injuries and suspensions lists will be covered there, so be sure to check in.

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NMA UCL Fantasy Mini-League

If you played our UCL mini-league last season, or if you played our Euros mini-league over the summer, you should automatically be entered into NMA’s 2021-22 mini-league as soon as you create a team. Head to gaming.uefa.com and get to work!

If you are new to us, then once you create a team you can join our mini-league manually with the following info. Come join us, we’d love to have you!

• League: Never Manage Alone
• Code: 71MQALVG07

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