The first leg of the Champions League last 16 is in the books. As teams prepare for their respective returns to domestic football, who made it into our Champions League team of the week?
We saw some massive wins for Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG – conversely, it was a rough period for the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool. That aside, who were the best individual performers in midweek?
GK: Ugurcan Çakir
Galatasaray are swiftly becoming one of Liverpool’s biggest ‘bogey teams’ – they overcame the Reds for the second time this season when they picked up a 1-0 win over Arne Slot’s men on Tuesday night.
Ugurcan Cakir was the star of the show, making seven saves against Liverpool to ensure that his team walked away with a clean sheet.
RB: Fredrik Sjøvold
Bodo/Glimt’s rise to prominence in the Champions League looks unquellable at this stage. They took Sporting CP apart – Fredrik Sjovold was on hand to defend his flank with ferocity.
With a tackle success ratio of 100%, combined with a number of dangerous long balls down the right-hand side, Sjovold was a key cog in the Bodo machine on Wednesday evening.
CB: Antonio Rudiger
Antonio Rudiger is entering the twilight of his playing years, but he certainly rolled back the years when Manchester City came to the Bernabeu Stadium.
Rudiger was dominant in the air, preventing City from gaining a foothold in the box – his defensive efforts were crucial in securing Real Madrid’s clean sheet.
CB: Robin Le Normand
Atletico Madrid compounded Tottenham’s misery with a resounding 5-2 win on Tuesday evening – Robin Le Normand couldn’t keep a clean sheet, but he made up for it at the other end of the pitch.
The Spanish international scored Atleti’s fourth goal of the outing, scrambling the ball into the back of the net following an opportunistic header.