Champions League Fantasy Football: Goalkeepers
Friday, April 1, 2022
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With only eight teams remaining, UEFA.com considers the Fantasy credentials of the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Manuel Neuer and Edouard Mendy.
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Eight teams remain in the UEFA Champions League and many #UCLfantasy managers will need to make goalkeeper transfers following the round of 16. Presented by Playstation, UEFA.com considers the options ahead of the quarter-finals.
Thibaut Courtois (€6.6m) returned 13 points across Real Madrid's round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain, more than any other goalkeeper, and the Belgian international's 45 points gained overall this season puts him top of the pile in his position. Despite this Courtois is only the third most popular goalkeeper in #UCLfantasy teams at present, but that number could well increase as the Matchday 9 deadline approaches.
After missing out through injury on Matchday 8, Manuel Neuer (€6.4m) returned for Bayern's second leg against Salzburg, although he was unable to keep a clean sheet. However, with four shut-outs to his name in the UEFA Champions League this season, Neuer remains a tempting choice with the German champions facing two games against Villarreal in the last eight.
A trio of Premier League goalkeepers remain in the competition with Chelsea's Edouard Mendy (€6.4m), Alisson Becker (€6.4m) of Liverpool and Manchester City's Ederson (€6.0m) all demanding attention. Of the three, Mendy has been the most reliable choice so far having kept five clean sheets in the competition this season – a joint high. Thanks to Chelsea's mostly excellent defence, Mendy has made the lowest number of saves from the remaining first-choice goalkeepers (five), which bodes well for his clean-sheet prospects when the reigning European champions take on Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Second to Courtois in terms of points among #UCLfantasy goalkeepers is Benfica's Odisseas Vlachodimos (€5.4m), who continues to go under the radar. At a considerably cheaper price than the above options, the Greek international made several important stops across both legs of the round of 16 tie with Ajax, taking his overall tally to 31 saves overall. With Liverpool the next opponents, Vlachodimos could be a busy man once more but that can again go in his favour when it comes to obtaining #UCLfantasy points.
Cheaper still is Villarreal's Gerónimo Rulli (€5.0m), whose ten points against Juventus on Matchday 8 was the highest among all goalkeepers. The Argentinian made five saves for Unai Emery's side in their superb away victory in Turin, which helped him earn his second Player of the Match bonus of the season. Rulli and his team-mates take on free-scoring Bayern in the quarter-finals, but he still represents a budget-friendly choice for #UCLfantasy managers.
