Champions League Fantasy Football: Midfielders

As the days count down to this season’s UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter, UEFA.com considers the Matchday 13 options in midfield on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

It's never easy to predict which Manchester City midfielders will be included in Pep Guardiola's starting line-up, but one player certain to start is Kevin De Bruyne (€10.6m). The Belgian has been named Player of the Match in two of City's last three Champions League games, making it four awards for the season. A creative and attacking hub, De Bruyne provided the assist for two of the four goals in City's semi-final second-leg triumph over Real Madrid, picking up nine Fantasy points. Since the start of the knockout stage, De Bruyne has two goals, four assists and 42 Fantasy points.

De Bruyne is by no means the only midfielder from the Premier League champions who offers a significant offensive threat, of course. Bernardo Silva (€8.3m) was instrumental in their 4-0 victory against Real Madrid on Matchday 12, scoring the first two goals on his way to being named Player of the Match, helping the Portuguese international to a Fantasy score of 17 points.

Rodri (€6.2m) offers less from an attacking perspective but dominates when it comes to ball recoveries. No player has more recoveries than his 61, which accounts for 16 of his 51 Fantasy points. Managers are also likely to be enticed by Rodri's consistency, the Spaniard having scored four or more Fantasy points in each his last five European appearances. İlkay Gündoğan (€8.0m) also offers Fantasy value through the ball recovery system, his total of 37 bettered only by Rodri among the City midfield.

Two of the top three highest scoring Fantasy midfielders heading into the final play for Inter, one being Hakan Çalhanoğlu (€7.4m) who proved on Matchday 12 that he can accrue points through different avenues. Despite not gaining an attacking return in the 1-0 semi-final second-leg triumph over Milan, nine ball recoveries was enough for the Turkish international to pick up nine points. This backed up his seven-point score on Matchday 11, when Çalhanoğlu assisted one of Inter's two goals.

With 55 Fantasy points over the course of the competition, Çalhanoğlu sits two ahead of Nicolò Barella (€7.0m). The latter has scored three times in this season's Champions League, two more than his fellow midfielder, and was on target in each leg of Inter's quarter-final against Benfica.

The only midfielder to find the net for Inter in the semi-finals was Henrikh Mkhitaryan (€7.1m), whose 11 points on Matchday 11 was the joint highest score of the round. However, after going off injured in the second leg, Mkhitaryan has not played since, so Marcelo Brozović (€5.9m) could be in line for a start in Istanbul. The Croatian's last Champions League start came in the quarter-final second leg, when he recorded seven ball recoveries and gained four Fantasy points.