In this article, we will look at the best defenders to pick for your Fantasy Champions League team in MD7
This article is part of the series: UCL Fantasy Matchday 7: Tips, Best Picks & Captain
We look at each price bracket: budget defenders, mid-priced picks, and premium options.
Budget defenders for UCL Fantasy Matchday 7 (4m – 4.5m)
Raoul Bellanova (4.2m, Atalanta) – 3.5/10
- Atalanta very solid defensively this season, 4 clean sheets in 6 games
- budget enabler, MD7 fixture has clean sheet potential again
- 5 assists in Seria A this season
- You will know the lineup before the deadline
Timber (4.4m, Atalanta) – 7/10
- cheap route into Arsenal defence
- so many injuries to Arsenal defenders, the quality of their backline will suffer, it will be harder for them to keep a clean sheet
Boscagli (4.5m, PSV) – 4.5/10
- balls recovered magnet (7 balls recovered per game)
- good fixture for PSV MD7, but you would need to bench him in MD8
Cubarsi (4.5m, Barcelona) – 7/10
- cheap route into Barcelona defence
- He should be nailed, but do not be surprised if you see him rested in some fixtures
Carter Vickers (4.5m, Celtic) – 3.5/10
- Celtic with playable fixtures during whole League phase
- Solid at balls recovered, last season with 6.75 balls recovered per game, this season with 6 balls recovered per game
- Alistair Johnston (4.5m) could also be a good pick among Celtic defenders, he already has 4G + 5A this season
- Trusty (4m) would be the budget pick, but there are slight worries of rotation
Alexsandro (4.6m, Lille) – 3/10
- one to consider mainly for MD8
- second for balls recovered among all players, offer stable points output, with 8.83 balls recovered per game
- differentials with 0% owned
Rouault (4.7m, Stuttgart) – 4/10
- fixture against Slovan offer clean sheet potential
- good at balls recovered – 45 in 6 games = 7.5 per match
Pacho (4.7m, PSG) – 7/10
- a cheap route into PSG defence
- he is top for balls recovered among all players – 10.33 balls recovered per games on average, that is extra 3 points on average in every game
Rico Lewis (4.8m, Manchester City) – 5/10
- a cheap route into Man. City defence, but not a certain starter, expect he could be rotated
Mid-priced defenders for UCL Fantasy (5m)
Jose Maria Gimenez (4.9m, Atletico) – 3/10
- not bad at balls recovered, 7 per game on average, but MD7 fixture is tough.
- One to consider for MD8
Mittelstadt (5m, Stuttgard) – 6/10
- EURO Fantasy managers know him well
- Slovan have clean sheet and attacking return potential
- offer attacking threat, 1G + 4 assists in Bundesliga this season
- unfortunately injury doubt for MD7
Kim Min Jae (5.1m, Bayern) – 7.5/10
- very good at balls recovered, in the last season he was averaging almost 8 balls recovered per game
- 7.33 balls recovered per game this season
- our go-to Bayern defender
Schlotterbeck (5.0m, Dortmund) – 4.5/10
- Dortmund with good fixtures during the whole league phase
- good at balls recovered (but not as good as last season’s hero Hummels)
- in the last UCL season, he was averaging 6.83 balls recovered per game, this season it is just 5.16 per game
Premium defenders for UCL Fantasy (5.5m – 6m)
Gabriel (5.5m, Arsenal) – 9/10
- Arsenal very good defensively, most clean sheets in Premier League last season
- Gabriel offer higher goal threat than Saliba, he is averaging 4G/season in Premier League in last 3 seasons
- OK at balls recovered this season with 6.2 balls recovered per game on average so far
Frimpong / Grimaldo (5.5m, Leverkusen) – 9.5/10
- Leverkusen’s wingbacks coulb be amazing source of points thanks ot their attacking threat
- Grimaldo with 2G + 4A this season for Leverkusen in Bundesliga and 10G + 13A in Bundesliga last season
- Frimpong with 2G + 4A this season in Bundesliga and 9G + 7A last season
Theo Hernandez (5.5m, AC Milan) – 7.5/10
- 5G + 4A in last season in Seria A, 3G + 2A this season
- he can produce points for attacking returns, and now 2 good fixtures for AC Milan up to end of the League phase
Dumfries (5.5m, Inter) – 6/10
- found the way back to Inter Milan starting lineup
- 4G + 1A in Serie A this season
Hakimi (5.5m, PSG) – 5.5/10
- 4G + 5A in the last season in Ligue 1, 2G + 5A in Ligue 1 this season
- he can produce points for attacking returns, but tough fixtures for PSG where we do not see many clean sheets
Gvardiol (5.5m, Man. City) – 7.5/10
- offers an attacking threat, but hard to predict which Man. City defender is going to start most of the matches in the Champions League
Rudiger (6m, Real Madrid) – 8/10
- our pick among Real Madrid defenders
- was very good at balls recovered during the World Cup for Germany
- good fixtures
Van Dijk (6m, Liverpool) – 6.5/10
- attacking threat after set pieces
- we expect more stable points output from VVD than from TAA, due to VVD’s ability to collect points for balls recovered
- Liverpool with the most clean sheets in Premier League this season
Picking the best defenders in UCL Fantasy 2024/25
When selecting a defender for your UCL Fantasy team you consider:
- Whether a defender that you pick has a good chance of a clean sheet. Our Champions League Clean Sheet Odds will help you with that. This is the most important criterion you should consider, as clean sheets are the most important source of fantasy points for defenders.
- Whether a defender has attacking potential: Can he score goals after free kicks and corners? Does he play in an advanced position so he could register a few assists?
- Balls recovered potential. Centre-backs usually recover more balls than full-backs which makes them more appealing from this point of view. You can check, which players are best at bells recovered in our article: Best players at balls recovered.
If you find a defender that offers all three above, you find gold and should pick him into your team. However, that is rare. So make sure that the defenders you pick satisfy at least 2 of those 3 criteria.
