The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL) campaign begins this week – and so does the competition’s official Fantasy game.
We’ll have plenty of UCL Fantasy coverage in preparation for the big kick-off, plus regular articles throughout the season.
Here, our European football contributor Crisk goes through some of the most appealing defensive picks.
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BEST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEFENDERS
Trent Alexander-Arnold (€6.0m)
In Fantasy Premier League (FPL), we sometimes argue whether Alexander-Arnold’s price is lower than it should be.
Although UCL Fantasy doesn’t have a similar Bonus Points System (BPS), the Liverpool star’s ceiling remains high enough to justify such pricing.
Liverpool had started the season well, only conceding their first goal in Gameweek 4.
The Reds’ run of UCL fixtures, against mostly offensive teams, also perhaps elevates the prospect of potential attacking returns, with fewer low blocks to bypass.
Alexander-Arnold has almost double the volume of expected goal involvment (xGI) as any other Premier League defender this season:
Alejandro Grimaldo (€5.5m)
Because of Marc Cucurella’s form, we were prevented from seeing Grimaldo at his flowing best in Euro Fantasy.
Now, we finally have a chance to witness what he’s capable of on the grandest club stage.
An attack-minded wing-back, the Bayer Leverkusen man delivered a remarkable 10 goals and 13 assists in the Bundesliga last season.
A just-as-eye-catching 71 shots and 78 chances created were registered, too.
I prefer him to Jeremie Frimpong (€5.5m), as the Spaniard also has set pieces in his locker.
Rico Lewis (€4.5m)
With a large number of games to play during 2024/25, we were bound to get tricked by the infamous Pep Roulette sooner or later.
The rotation duly happened on Saturday, with four starting XI changes made.
If you’re willing to take the gamble, Lewis is available at a budget-friendly price.
He has cut himself a pretty important space in Manchester City’s main starting XI over Kyle Walker (€5.5m), who looked rusty against Brentford.
Those who want a slightly safer pick can go for Ruben Dias (€6.0m) or Josko Gvardiol (€5.5m), whose ‘rests’ are hopefully out of the way after Saturday…
Pau Cubarsi (€4.5m)
I’m still struggling to comprehend how such a young player has been able to take Barcelona’s defence on his back in such a short period of time.
In fact, the developers at UCL Fantasy seem to have also not realised, as they have underpriced him.
A starter at centre-half in all four La Liga matches to date, he even chipped in with an assist in last weekend’s thrashing of Valladolid.
He was a regular at the back-end of 2023/24, too, starting both Champions League quarter-final legs.
We’ve pretty much been handed a gift.
Antonio Rudiger (€6.0m)
Nailed on and a set-piece threat for arguably the best team in the world.
Perhaps the only argument against picking Rudiger is that Real Madrid team-mate Ferland Mendy (€5.0m) costs less. Nevertheless, the French left-back is more at risk of rotation.
Andrea Cambiaso (€5.5m)
Meanwhile, Cambiaso is having a great start to life at Thiago Motta’s Juventus.
He is reunited with the manager he had during a previous loan spell at Bologna.
The great thing is that he can also be used out of position on the right wing, in case their other options are injured – such as in Matchdays 2 and 3 of Serie A.
He has already found the net once in the league this season, having chipped in with five attacking returns in 2023/24.
Achraf Hakimi (€5.5m)
Offensive full-backs are always very desirable due to their higher chance of delivering attacking returns. Hakimi is one of the most offensive around.
One goal and two assists have already been delivered in four starts for PSG this season.
Nine attacking returns had been banked in 2023/24.
He was also second among UCL defenders for shots and xG last season, as well as top for chances created:
I would also watch out for Lucas Beraldo (€4.0m), who is extremely cheap but probably not nailed once Nuno Mendes (€5.5m) and Willian Pacho (€4.5m) are both fit.
Federico Dimarco (€5.5m)
Inter Milan are one of the few top teams that currently play with a back-three system, alongside Leverkusen and Atalanta. This makes their wing-backs very appealing.
Dimarco has consistently been very good in terms of scoring, with six goals in each of the last two seasons.
Although he faces Man City at first, his next few fixtures versus Young Boys and Crvena Zvezda look much nicer.
David Hancko (€4.5m)
Elsewhere, after a very good showing at Euro 2024 with Slovakia, Hancko was linked with a move to big clubs like Atletico Madrid. In the end, he stayed at Feyenoord.
Five league goals arrived from the centre-half last season, as well as one in the Champions League. Only three defenders could better his xG tally in UCL Fantasy.
He’s a big threat from set pieces.
Fortunately for us, the Dutch team’s fixtures aren’t too bad for a pot three team, meaning he could be a reliable cheap option in squads.
William Saliba (€5.5m)
It took playing with one less man against a very attacking team for Arsenal to finally concede their first league goal of the season.
As seen last year, their defence is excellent overall – although I would wait a bit before jumping on their assets.
Their most favourable games come after Matchday 4.
Saliba should pick up plenty of ball recovery points in the meantime.
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