The fifth round of the Champions League is in the bag, with just three rounds left before we find out who is through to the last 16, who is going to endure a nervy battle in the playoffs and who has finished the European season. This week brought exciting results: Manchester City blow a three-goal lead against Feyenoord, Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal He impressively scored goals and missed penalties by superstars on both sides in Liverpool’s victory over Real Madrid.
Here is our selection of the best players, lining up with a back three to celebrate Leverkusen and Inter’s impressive results:
Goalkeeper: Dmytro Riznyk, Shakhtar Donetsk
It wasn’t exactly a great week for the men between the sticks, was it? Thibaut Courtois was one of the few Real Madrid players who was able to leave Anfield with his head held high, but he might feel he could have done better in Liverpool’s first game. Since no one was impeccable and at the same time busy, we will have to look for a compromise candidate. Riznyk’s exceptional 87 minutes were not undone just because his clean sheet and then Shakhtar’s points were snatched away by Malik Tillman (more on who later) and Ricardo Pepi.
TruMedia
I mean, what do you want me to do with those goals, which followed 10 saves, the best of which were excellent? Even that first goal he conceded was millimeters away from an excellent save, Riznyk diving low to the left to meet Tillman’s reckless low free kick. The second? There could have been two goalkeepers between the posts and they didn’t get close. The third seemed designed specifically to ruin Rizynk’s night, one PSV leg doing just enough to deflect the ball in the complete opposite direction, leaving Pepi with a touch.
Sometimes goalkeepers do their bit and still end up having a bad night. In such circumstances, it is worth highlighting what they did right.
Center: Conor Bradley, Liverpool
Yes, we are immediately playing fast and loose with the formation. Look, there are a lot of forwards and attacking midfielders that I have to try to get into. Conor, you’re going to have to figure it out. Given the success he’s had in dealing with the best striker on the planet (if we can still call Kylian Mbappé that), I’m pretty sure this won’t get away from him. After all, what a turn-off that was in the second half.
And the assistance. The assistance! Precisely weighted, a pass took two players out of the game and ensured Alexis Mac Allister could take the ball in stride and parry a shot before Raul Asensio crossed to cover. There is little better praise you can offer in this context than to say it was an assist Trent Alexander-Arnold would have been proud of.
Center: Stefan De Vrij, Inter
Well, you have to have someone from Inter behind you. The Italian giants appear to have the most vital component of Champions League contenders: an elite defense. A record of five clean sheets in as many games would be remarkable, regardless of who the opponents were, but the 2023 finalists have already held their own against Manchester City, Arsenal and an RB Leipzig side that desperately needed anything to save their European season. Inter kept them at bay: just seven shots totaled 0.15 xG.
Such defensive excellence is the kind of collective effort that rarely fits comfortably into the format of picking your best players. So, sorry Alessandro Bastoni and Hakan Calhanoglu, but for me it’s De Vrij: his clearances and interceptions ended the pressure that RB Leipzig were able to apply on the Inter goal.
Central: David Hancko, Feyenoord
A week in which so many teams conceded more than three goals doesn’t make it easy to pick the best defenders. Either your team was so dominant that you didn’t have to defend much or, well, you conceded half a dozen goals. On the other hand, if anyone can be forgiven for conceding a few goals it is the Feyenoord defence, where Hancko and his teammates got a clearing boot on some of the many crosses and cuts Manchester City launched into their area. After 88 of the most demanding minutes you can ask of a defender with a frenetic run into the penalty area to score the equalizing goal, the draw was even more impressive.
RM: Marcos Llorente, Atlético de Madrid
Arguably the best individual player this week, Llorente’s dominance from right-back ensured that Atlético Madrid were able to achieve an almighty scoreline in Prague, something that could count for a lot when the final spots in the top eight are shared out. Most immediately evident were the two assists, Llorente breaking his stomach to be in place to make a one-two with Julián Álvarez before sliding the ball to Ángel Correa at the death, giving the Argentine plenty of work to do , it must be said.
TruMedia
Atlético was dominant enough not to need Llorente to excel defensively, but he did too with four tackles won in four, six of seven successful duels and eight ball recoveries. Not bad for a player making his first start since late September.
CM: Malik Tillman, PSV Eindhoven
Pick your favourite: the audacious free kick that was enough to start the comeback or the absolute howitzer that seemed to oscillate one way and then the other to draw PSV level in the most exciting match of a match week? By pure vision, this author’s preference is for the first goal, especially since a bit of guile was absolutely necessary to defeat a goalkeeper as stubborn as Shakhtar’s.
CM: Rade Krunic, Red Star
Even those who thought Crvena Zvezda was significantly better than his record didn’t see it. that next! On the other hand, you look at their team and it’s hard to see why they shouldn’t at least try against a team like Stuttgart. On a night when everyone dressed in red stood out, it was difficult to choose a star, but the UEFA technical panel opted for former Milan player Rade Krunic.
“He had a significant impact, displaying a clinical left-footed finish to give his team the lead, as well as creating the fourth goal with a decisive pass that broke the line on the counterattack,” they said. Who are we to argue?
MI: Alejandro Grimaldo, Bayer Leverkusen
Look, we could really book a place in this XI for the rest of this season and name him after Florian Wirtz. The Bayer Leverkusen figurehead showed his usual excellent version in the 5-0 win over Salzburg. However, the same could be said for Grimaldo, the most cheerful watch there has been in European football for the last 15 months or so. Let him stray from your flank even for a moment and he will shoot. By the final whistle at the BayArena, he had already taken seven of them, the chosen one being a delicately elevated free kick that Alexander Schlager quickly concluded was not even worth taking.
With half an hour played, Grimaldo had also added an assist, a clever pass towards Wirtz that speaks to the connection these two have on the Leverkusen left. The latter is usually the one that receives the most enthusiastic praise for their collective efforts. There’s nothing wrong with shining a light on Grimaldo for once.
CAM: Martín Odegaard, Arsenal
If Arsenal didn’t have Odegaard, could they really have hoped to gut Sporting’s much-hyped opponent in the way they just did? Whether or not the Norwegian is the best player on his team is the kind of fruitless debate the Gooners can relish, but after his last two games, Odegaard has a better case to be the one to lift the roof of this team.
“He’s an incredible player and the day he came back he had a big smile on his face,” Bukayo Saka said of his captain. One of the three best midfielders in Europe, according to William Saliba. They know how good Odegaard is. Sporting has just discovered it in the cruelest way.
CAM: Ngal’ayel Mukau, Lille
There are worse times to score your first senior goal than a Champions League playoff where your team can practically guarantee a place in the knockout playoffs (at least). It’s not a bad time for the second goal either. Both spoke of qualities that often take more than 20 years to develop, lurking in the right places for a cut while being prepared to bet that mistakes and rebounds will fall their way.
ST: Mateo Retegui, Atalanta
What about Gian Piero Gasperini and the forwards? Players like Duván Zapata, Luis Muriel and Ademola Lookman hardly looked like superstars before arriving at Atalanta, nor did Retegui when he left Genoa with nine goals to his name in all competitions last season. Already this season he has 14 in 19 games, two of which came when Young Boys were eliminated at the Wankdorf stadium.
Retegui’s first goal came from an outstanding centre-forward, who timed his run perfectly to break Young Boys’ offside trap and launched a fierce cross-shot over the goal, the ball bending elegantly towards the side of the network. The second was no less impressive, a great first touch from Charles De Ketelaere before the 25-year-old came up for air and scored. This is the departure of a high-level striker. Was Retegui like this before Gasperini put his hands on him?
