Champions League Fantasy Football: Top performers on Matchday 2

UEFA.com delves into each position to assess the standout performers across Matchday 2 on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

GOALKEEPERS

There were only five clean sheets on Matchday 2, but two of those came from teams who also recorded shut-outs in the opening set of fixtures. One came from Marc-André ter Stegen (€5.5m, Barcelona), the most highly-selected goalkeeper on Fantasy, who successfully kept Porto scoreless in a 1-0 away victory. The second was Mike Maignan (€6.0m, Milan), one of the star performers of last season, whose side played out their second consecutive goalless draw at Dortmund.

Yann Sommer (€4.5m, Inter) has been another popular choice among Fantasy managers, particularly because of his price, and his owners received a seven-point return on Matchday 1, the Nerazzurri keeping out Benfica in a 1-0 victory.

Those looking for an even cheaper option in goal may want to consider Álex Remiro (€4.0m, Real Sociedad), who kept a clean sheet at Salzburg. Omri Glazer (€4.5m, Crvena zvezda), meanwhile, is the leader when it comes to saves having made 13 over the course of two Group G encounters.

DEFENDERS

Only two defenders reached double figures for points on Matchday 2, and neither appear in many Fantasy teams. Fabian Schär (€4.5m, Newcastle) scored a stunning strike from outside the box to cap a superb win against Paris that, together with his eight ball recoveries, earned him 11 points. Almost matching that score was Davinson Sánchez (€4.5m, Galatasaray), whose two assists and 11 ball recoveries in the win at Manchester United resulted in ten points.

When it comes to consistency, Fikayo Tomori (€5.5m, Milan) is a standout asset having returned nine points in both fixtures so far thanks to a clean sheet and nine ball recoveries in each match. No defender has accumulated more Fantasy points.

When it comes to highly-selected defenders, João Cancelo (€6.0m, Barcelona) has delivered a pair of clean sheets so far, while Denzel Dumfries (€5.5m, Inter) delivered his first attacking return of the competition with the assist for the only goal of the game against Benfica. In terms of ball recoveries, Mats Hummels (€5.0m, Dortmund) and Nicolás Otamendi (€5.0m, Benfica) are the only defenders to have reached double figures in both fixtures so far.

MIDFIELDERS

Appearing in just 3% of teams, Brais Méndez (€6.6m, Real Sociedad) is unlikely to remain a differential for much longer given the fact he has amassed more Fantasy points (26) than any other player having put in his second successive Player of the Match performance with a goal and assist at Salzburg on Matchday 2.

The much higher-owned Jude Bellingham (€7.6m, Real Madrid), just one point behind Méndez overall, also won his second Player of the Match award of the season thanks to his goal and assist in victory at Napoli. The England international's ownership is creeping towards a staggering 80% at the time of writing.

Osman Bukari (£6.1m, Crvena zvezda) has gone under the radar but deserves attention from Fantasy managers having produced 20 points, 13 of those coming against Young Boys on Matchday 2, while there were also double-figure returns for Phil Foden (€8.0m, Man City), Miguel Almirón (€7.0m, Newcastle), Arthur Vermeeren (€5.5m, Antwerp) and Nemanja Gudelj (€5.5m, Sevilla).

FORWARDS

It was a matchday to forget for highly-owned, premium forwards with Kylian Mbappé (€11.5m, Paris), Erling Haaland (€11.5m, Man City), Robert Lewandowski (€10.5m, Barcelona), Harry Kane (€10.0m, Bayern) and Victor Osimhen (€10.0m, Napoli) all failing to register an attacking return. However, Vinícius Júnior (€11.0m, Real Madrid) marked his Champions League return with a goal and Antoine Griezmann (€10.5m, Atlético de Madrid) was on the scoresheet for Madrid's city rivals.

It was the more budget-friendly forwards who were the most profitable for Fantasy managers on Matchday 2. Manchester-based pair Julián Álvarez (€7.1m, Man City) and Rasmus Højlund (€7.0m, Man Utd) have three goals apiece so far and jointly lead the Champions League goalscorer charts. Højlund in particular caught they eye on Matchday 2 with a total of 13 points – a score shared by Bruma (€7.5m, Braga) and Danylo Sikan (€5.0m, Shakhtar Donetsk).

With a double-header against Celtic on Matchdays 3 and 4, Álvaro Morata (€7.5m, Atlético de Madrid ) may come into Fantasy managers' thinking after his two goals against Feyenoord, while Luuk de Jong (€8.5m, PSV) should also be considered after scoring his 12th goal of the season in all competitions on Matchday 2.