Three UCL Fantasy rounds are behind us, and another five rounds in the league stage to go. There are no mirroring fixtures in UEFA Fantasy Champions League as we were used to in previous seasons, which changes our whole fantasy strategy.
Let’s jump to our UCL Fantasy tips for Matchday 4 with the best captain, best picks, fixtures to target, balls recovered, and our own scout team selection.
Hopefully, our tips will help you to make a good decision about your fantasy team before the first kick-off of the MD4 of the Champions League.
1. Strategy and tips for UCL Fantasy Matchday 4 and onwards
Try to use your free transfer (transfers) with MD5 fixture in mind as well.
If not sure, to do with your free transfers, focus on:
- Bringing in the best captains for both days
- Check how your team will be set up in MD5 as well, and make your transfers with Matchday 5 in mind
- Bringing in Barcelona or Dortmund players
You can use your free transfers for example, to change the number of players you have on Tuesday and Wednesday. For example, if you have 7 players on Tuesday and 8 on Wednesday on MD4 – this could cause a substitution headache. So you can use your free transfer to remove one Wednesday player and replace him with a Tuesday player, so you will have 8 players for Tuesday and 7 for Wednesday.
Your strategy for MD4 should be very similar to your Matchday 3 strategy, so:
- Target easy fixtures. Focus on premium players who are likely to haul and who play against very easy oppositions in MD4.
- Alongside these few heavy hitters focus on cheap players who have stable output in balls recovered.
- Pick defenders that have a high chance of a clean sheet
- Select cheaper players from weaker teams that have now good fixture in MD4, and in MD5, MD6 as well.
- Make sure you have 2 great captaincy options, one for each day
- Make sure your goalkeepers play on different days so you can use subs on them
- Have around 8 players for Tuesday and around 7 players for Wednesday to use subs efficiently
- As usual, try not to chase past points. Focus on what is ahead, not behind
- Try to have rotating goalkeepers (one on Tuesday, the other on Wednesday) until the MD7
2. Transfer Targets and key players to own in Matchday 3
Key players to own
- Haaland/Salah – your first Matchday 4 captain
- Yamal – the most owned player in the game, so big risk in not owning him
- Wirtz – has amazing form, keep him despite tougher fixtures
- Frimpong/Grimaldo – Leverkusen wingbacks could be an amazing source of points, fixture do not matter, you want one of them until the end of the league phase
- Man. City defending coverage – Ederson/Rico Lewis/Gvardiol – although it is very hard to predict who of their defenders will start
- Gyokeres – it is almost impossible to sell a player in this form – especially after his 4 goals on the weekend, despite next two tougher fixtures. Both next 2 fixtures are at home. Man. City have just 2 clean sheets in Premier League this season, and Arsenal conceded 10 goals in their last 6 Premier League games.
Transfer targets
- Raphinha/Lewandowski – another Barcelona attacker to field next to Yamal
- Barcelona defender
- Vinicius/Mbappe – fixtures do not matter with Real Madrid players
- Dortmund defender/goalkeeper – Dortmund with good fixtures until the end of the league phase, you want their coverage in your team
- Guirassy – great form for Dortmund and the country
- Vlahovič as differential
- Juventus defender – we like Gatti due to his balls-recovered potential,
- Zakaria, Florentino – midfielders good at balls recovered
- Watkins/Rogers – as short-term punts
- Haraslín – one-week punt
- Mittelstatd – great next 4 fixtures for Stuttgart
- Millot/Denis Undav – differentials for the next 4 fixtures, Stuttgart plays very well in UCL
- Celtic players – Celtic have a good fixture run up to MD8
- Kane, Bayern players
- Boscagli – good at balls recovered, good fixture run for PSV
3. Fixtures to target in UCL Fantasy Matchday 4
Now let’s use our Odds to probability calculator to find out which fixtures we should target in Matchday 4 according to bookies odds.
Tuesday fixtures
- Dortmund vs. Sturm Graz: Dortmund 83 % to win, 56 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Real Madrid vs. AC Milan: Real Madrid 67 % to win, 41 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Liverpool vs. Leverkusen: Liverpool 59 % to win, 35 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Sporting vs. Man. City: Man City 55 % to win, 31 % to score 2.5+ goals
Wednesday fixtures
- CZ Beograd vs. Barcelona: Barcelona 81 % to win, 54 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Bayern vs. Benfica: Bayern 77 % to win, 53 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Feyenoord vs. Salzburg: Feyenoord 62 % to win, 35 % to score 2.5+ goals
- PSG vs. Atletico: PSG 54 % to win, 24 % to score 2.5+ goals
Find 2.5+ goals odds for all teams in our article: Champions League Over 2.5 Goals Odds.
4. Best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 4
Let’s look at who do we consider to be the best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 4.
Tuesday captain pick: Haaland (SPO (A))
For Tuesday, the most appealing fixtures for captaincy are Sporting vs. Manchester City and Dortmund vs Sturm Graz.
There is no need to overcomplicate and overthink this decision.
Other captain picks for Tuesday: Guirassy, Mbappe, Salah
Wednesday captain pick: Yamal (ZVE (A))
The standout fixtures for the captaincy on Wednesday are Crvena Zvezda vs. Barcelona, Bayern vs Benfica, and Bruggee vs Aston Villa.
So, Yamal is our backup captain pick for Wednesday, if our Tuesday captain fails to deliver (score 9+ points).
You can read more about when you should change your captain and about rules we use for changing the captaincy in our article: When you should change your UCL Fantasy captain?
Other captain picks for Wednesday: Raphinha, Lewandowski, Kane, Watkins
5. Players great at recovering balls
After three matchdays we have a better picture of players who are good at balls recovered. Players who can consistently do the job and score an extra 2-3 points for you matchday after matchday.
If you are interested to know, which players did well in balls recovered during the last two seasons, check our article about Balls Recovering Heroes.
These players have the most balls recovered this season after three matchdays:
- 29 – Pacho
- 27 – Djiga
- 26 – Florentino
(Source: Official UCL Stats)
6. Bookies odds for Matchday 4
As usual, we looked at what bookies think about the Matchday 4 of UCL Fantasy.
We checked the clean sheet odds to determine which teams are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the MD4 and goalscoring odds to determine which players are most likely to score a goal in MD4.
It can be very helpful when selecting the defense of your UCL Fantasy team or choosing your captain.
We used our Odds to probability calculator for converting bookies’ odds into probabilities.
Clean sheet odds for MD4
Bookies favor Dortmund to keep a clean sheet with 49 % probability. Barcelona (48 %) and Bayern (40 %) follow. Bookies expect 8.44 clean sheets in Matchday 4. You can find the full Champions League clean sheet odds table here.
Goalscoring odds for MD4
Lewandowski leads goalscoring odds for Matchday 4.
You can find goalscoring odds for MD4 here.
7. UCL Fantasy Team Selection for Matchday 4
Let’s finish our preview for the Matchday 4 of UCL Fantasy with our scout picks and team selection. This is a good inspiration for managers on their wildcard (regular one). If you plan to use your limitless wildcard in MD4, check our limitless squad here.
8. Fantasy Champions League Tips
Find more tips, strategies, and picks for UCL Fantasy in these articles:
- Beginner? Read our guide: How to play UCL Fantasy?
- Confused about the rules? Read the Official guidelines of the game
- Do you want to get better at UCL Fantasy? Read our article about Essential Tips for UCL Fantasy Success.
Feel free to JOIN our UCL fantasy mini-league for the 2024/25 season.
Good luck in UCL Fantasy Matchday 4.
