Hello, hello, it’s Tillian and it’s Team of The Knockout Stage predictions for Champions League.
I decided to combine Champions League and Europa League performances and managed to get 14 UCL players and 9 EL players, just because EL players played much more games in total.
Here’s a quick rundown of my choices.
Starting 11:
GK:Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) – 88>89>90– Saved Spurs a lot of times during knockout stage and saved penalty vs City.
LB: Alex Telles (Porto) – 84>86- I went for Telles over Marega from Porto just because Telles performed more clinical to me and was really important for them.
CB: Gerard Pique (Barcelona) – 87>>91 – Most impressive defender in knockout stage. Was solid in every game he played and scored a goal vs Lyon
CB: Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) – 87>>92 – 2 goals from Virgil and amazing performances as always from him. Few conceded goals, but not his fault.
CB:Mathias De Ligt (Ajax) – 83>>88 – Mathias the captain of Ajax. Most impressive team from the knockouts. Amazing performances vs Juve and winning goal from him.
LM: Sadio Mane (Liverpool) – 86>>89– 3 goals in KO stage, 2 vs Bayern and goal and assist vs Porto. Should be a lock.
CM: Frenkie De Jong (Ajax) – 82>>86-Frenkie is amazing. Future Barca player controlled games vs every of his opponents. Amazing passing and a lot of recoveries from him
RM: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 93>>98 –Do I even need to explain anything?
ST: Heugn-Min Son (Tottenham) - 85>88- 4 goals in knockout stage. 3 vs City. Clutch player for Spurs, when Kane was injured
ST:Dusan Tadic (Ajax) – 80>>85–Perfect game vs Real and that deserves a spot in my TOTKS predictions
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) – 94>97–5 goals in 4 CL games. Even though Juve is out, CR scored all their KO stage goals and deserves to be in TOTKS.
Subs:
RW:David Neres (Ajax) – 79>>82–Another Ajax player. Yeah… But they deserve all the fame. Goal vs Juventus and goal vs Real were really important.
CB:Daley Blind (Ajax) – 80>>86 – Another Ajax player. Blind was amazing and important for Ajax and their partnership with De Ligt was immense.
LW: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) – 85>91- 3 2 goals vs City, goal and assist vs Schalke, winning goal vs Schalke. Raheem deserves it.
CM:Aaron Ramesey (Arsenal)– 82>84>86– Solid play from Ramsey in knockout stage. Goal vs Napoli and assist vs Rennes. Also controlling most of the games from Midfield. Arsenal gonna miss him.
RWB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal) – 71>78– Amazing play from youngster. Playing RWB and getting goal vs Rennes and MOTM vs Napoili.
ST: Luka Jovic (Eintracht) – 82>87– Scored 3 goals in 5 games, really important goal vs Inter and a giving chance for Eintracht vs Benfica.
ST: Oliver Giroud (Chelsea) –82>84>86 – 3 goals vs Kyiv, 2 assists vs them, 2 goals vs Malmoe. Deserved spot for Oliver, who performs well for Chelsea in EL
Reserves:
RW: Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) – 68>77- Youngster impressed vs Kyiv, with 2 goals and 1 assist and played solid vs Malmoe.
ST: Joao Felix (Benfica) – 69>77>81- 3 goals and 1 assist vs Frankfurt, and other solid games vs other opponents. Wild card shout, but still might get in.
CM: Tomas Soucek (Slavia Prague)- 75>81>84- 1 goal and 1 assist. Played well in amazing run for Slavia. Really impressive vs Sevilla especially at home
CM: Daniel Wass (Valencia) – 82>84- 1 goal and 1 assist. Played across 4 games and scored important goal vs Villarreal. Overall was rated highest out of all Valencia players.
ST:Gerard Moreno (Villarreal) – 83>85– 2 MOTMs vs Zenit, 2 goals and 1 assist and was solid for Villarreal in their surprising run in EL.