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MD-7 Restart Build-Up
One game week of domestic football split UCL MD-7 into two parts. Europe witnessed temporary stumbles by English clubs Tottenham and Chelsea losing 0-1 to AC Milan and Dortmund respectively away from home. Japanese anime One Piece Luffy’s gum-gum power was not strong enough to help PSG break through Bayern’s defenses, and the French club lost 0-1 at home. Meanwhile Benfica demonstrated a dominating performance to defeat Club Brugge in Belgium.
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With the exception of Manchester City, all clubs playing this week have won their most recent domestic matches. Coincidently, all clubs playing on Tuesday (namely; Liverpool, Real Madrid, Frankfurt and Napoli) won with the same 2-0 scorelines over Newcastle, Osasuna, Werder Bremen and Sassuolo. With an ever-diminishing list of injured players,
Liverpool will be looking to maintain its recent positive results when they play a repeat of last season’s UCL final against Real Madrid at Anfield. Napoli are showing no signs of slowing down, and are practically only few matches away from mathematically securing the Serie A title. The Italian club will be travelling to Frankfurt in the first leg of the round of 16 to take on home club Eintracht.
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The closing night of MD-7 and the last chance for fantasy managers to change the armband will feature another match in Germany when RB Leipzig host Manchester City. San Siro, Milan will play host to yet another match in this leg; Inter Milan host Portuguese side Porto after serving last week as the site of the AC Milan vs Tottenham match.
In case you missed them, here are links to my UCL MD-7 Preview article, Chris’ Fantasy UCL MD-7 Player Picks article, and Guy’s Rate My MD-7 Team article.
For your convenience, all of our MD-7 content can be found in the Round of 16, Leg 1 article stream.
Cheers and good luck!
Team News (Injury/Suspension)
Liverpool
Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara and Arthur will continue to miss out for Liverpool. Darwin Nunez is listed as doubtful after being substituted due a shoulder injury against Newcastle. Ibrahim Konate is recovering from his recent injury but is unlikely to start the first tie against Real Madrid.
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Real Madrid
Ferland Mendy has been out of royal club squad since end of January due to injury and will miss out against Liverpool. There are conflicting reports when it comes to Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Aurelien Tchouameni since they all did not take part in Real Madrid’s victory over Osasuna. The squad list released by Real Madrid include only the French striker but tread carefully if you are thinking about him as your captain.
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Frankfurt
Sebastion Rode missed out on Frankfurt’s 2-0 win over Werder Bremen this weekend due to illness. It is unclear if he will be ready to play against Napoli. There are no more names on the injury list for Frankfurt and all players should be ready and fit to take on Napoli.
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Napoli
Third choice striker and second choice left winger Giacomo Raspadori is the only player to miss out due to a hamstring injury. He was unlikely to start ahead of Victor Osimhen or Diego Simeone’s heir anyway. Recalling the injured player’s performance against Liverpool in the group stage sends a chill down the spine of how strong Napoli’s attack is this season.
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Inter Milan
Inter Milan will be only without Joaquin Correa when the Italians host Porto. If you have goalkeeper Andre Onana, defender Milan Skriniar or striker Lautaro Martinez on your fantasy team bench then they should be used as starters considering Simeone Inzaghi rested the trio in Serie A 2-0 win over Udinese this weekend.
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Porto
The Portuguese club has a long list of injured players including Evanilson, Fabio Cardoso, Gabriel Veron and Francisco Meixedo. Several other players returned to training with the team but remain doubtful: Mateus Uribe, Galeno, Toni Martinez and Otavio. Striker Toni Martinez played 83 minutes coming back from an injury against Rio Ave but considering the fitness level required against Inter, he is considered doubtful.
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RB Leipzig
Peter Gulacsi continues to miss out for RB Leipzig (almost since the start of the season) to allow Janis Blaswich to keep the goals away. Abdou Diallo and Dani Olmo are also injured and will miss out against Manchester City. Christopher Nkunku’s November injury that caused his upsetting removal from the French squad just days before the World Cup is finally over with as he featured in the Bundesliga against Wolfsburg recording one assist to his name off the bench.
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Manchester City
The late Nottingham Forest equalizer in EPL allowed Arsenal to retake the table top only one week after Man City had a taste of it during this difficult season. Coach and players will be looking to recover form and winning ways without John Stones in Germany against difficult opponents Leipzig.
Confirmed Lineups (Day-1)
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Ramos. Marquinhos, Verratti, Neymar. Danilo, Nuno Mendes, Soler, Messi, Zaire-Emery
Bayern Munich: Sommer, Upamecano, De Ligt, Pavard, Kimmich, Goretzka, Sane, Coman, Choupo-Moting, Joao Cancelo, Musiala
AC Milan: Tatarusanu, Thiaw, Kalulu, Kjaer, T. Hernandez, Saelemaekers, Krunic, Tonali, Brahim Diaz, Giroud, Rafael Leao
Tottenham: Foster, Lenglet, Dier, Romero, Emerson, Sarr, Skipp, Son, Perisic, Kulusevski, Kane
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Confirmed Lineups (Day-2)
Dortmund: Kobel, Schlotterbeck, Salih Ozcan, Haller, Guerreiro, Wolf, Brandt, Bellingham, Emre Can, Sule, Adeyemi.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Fernandez, Thiago Silva, Joao Felix, Loftus-Cheek, Mudryk, Chilwell, Ziyech, James, Koulibaly, Havertz.
Club Brugge: Mingolet, Clinton Mata, Mechele, Hendry, Buchanan, Vanakan, Odoi, Onyedika, Meijer, Lang, Sowah
Benfica: Vlachodimos, Grimaldo, Otamendi, Antonio Silva, Bah, Chiquinho, Florentino, Rafa Silva, Joao Mario, Aursnes, Goncalo Ramos
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Confirmed Lineups Week 2 Day 1
Liverpool lineup: Alisson (GK) — Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson — Henderson, Fabinho, Bajcetic — Salah, Gakpo, Nunez
Real Madrid: Courtois (GK) — Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba — Valverde, Camavinga, Modric — Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
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Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp; Tuta, Jakic, N’Dicka; Buta, Sow, Kamada, Max; Lindstrom, Gotze; Kolo Muani
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski; Lozano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
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Confirmed Lineups Week 2 Day 2
RB Leipzig: Blaswich, Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Halstenberg, Laimer, Schlagar, Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Werner, Silva
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva, Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
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Inter Milan: Onana, Skriniar, Bastoni, Acerbi, Darmian, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mikhitaryan, Dimarco, Dzeko, Martinez
Porto: Costa, Pepe, Marcano, Uribe, Taremi, Pepe, Zaidu, Galeno, Grujic, Joao Mario, Otavio
If you need to take a look at injury lists and predicted lineups for the remaining matches scheduled this week then following the UEFA UCL link here
Keep an eye on the comments section for any late updates and be aware that lineups for the Liverpool vs Real Madrid and Frankfurt vs Napoli will be released about an hour before today’s fantasy substitution deadline at 20:00 GMT. We’ll post those team sheets here in time for you to make transfers and substitutions, just like we will on every game day. Make sure you’re here for that!
Good luck everyone and I’ll see you in the Comments!
How is your team shaping up? Has your squad been hit by injuries to any players? Do you have any tactical questions? Which matches do you plan/wish to watch as a fan? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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