Champions League Semi-Finals Best XI

The Champions League semi-finals presented us with two contrasting outings. One was a scintillating, red-hot goalfest – the other was a cagey, tactical affair from two outfits who looked to frustrate the other.

But who made it into our team of the week? One thing is for certain – it was much easier to pick out the attacking players than it was the defenders this week.

GK: David Raya

None of the four goalkeepers kept a clean sheet in their respective semi-final games, but David Raya was easily the best of the bunch.

He made some excellent saves against Atletico Madrid, including a snapshot effort from Julian Alvarez that almost caught the Spanish international off-guard.

RB: Achraf Hakimi

Achraf Hakimi was desperately, desperately unfortunate in PSG’s thriller against Bayern Munich. He was excellent until he suffered a hamstring injury that could see him ruled out for the rest of the season and the World Cup.

Putting forth a solid contribution at both ends of the pitch, making some brilliant tackles and notching up an assist, let’s hope the Moroccan international can enjoy a speedy recovery.

CB: William Saliba

This wasn’t William Saliba’s best performance by any stretch – but as we’ve mentioned, the semi-finals contained very few strong defensive performances.

Saliba did everything he had to do, making some important clearances throughout, but the Frenchman has certainly had better games than this.

CB: Dayot Upamecano

Yes, Dayot Upamecano might have conceded a whopping five goals against PSG – but he did score one, so that has to count for something.

Upamecano can’t really be blamed for much of Bayern Munich’s defensive frailties on Tuesday night. Every time they went forward, they committed almost all of their players to every attack, leaving Upamecano and Jonathan Tah to fight an uphill battle on the counter-attack.

LB: Matteo Ruggeri

This was a textbook fullback performance from Matteo Ruggeri. Making an excellent contribution at both ends of the pitch, Ruggeri did a great job of containing Arsenal’s attacking threat.

He made a number of important tackles, but one mustn’t forget how good he was down the left flank. He created plenty of chances for Diego Simeone’s men and was perhaps unfortunate to not get an assist.

RM: Desire Doue

Desire Doue was at his creative best on Tuesday evening. He was given plenty of space to work by Bayern, but he was happy to take advantage of the situation.

Doue notched up a pair of assists against the Bavarian giants, before he was substituted for Bradley Barcola late on.

CM: Declan Rice

Declan Rice put forth another domineering midfield display – if he isn’t the best central midfielder in the world, he is certainly amongst the top three.

With a total of 83, Rice made more passes than anyone else on the pitch – he was also on hand to fulfil his defensive duties.

CM: Joao Neves

Joao Neves’ is an outstanding goalscoring midfielder – his ability to arrive late in the box to meet a pass is second to none in the world of football.

He scored a very smart header to give PSG the lead (at least, for a few minutes), showing great anticipation and timing to get it right.

LM: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

For our money, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the best player in the world right now. A brilliant dribbler and a pinpoint finisher, he presents a major threat to any team on the planet.

He scored twice against Bayern, including PSG’s first goal of the game – this was crucial, as they needed a quick response to Bayern’s opener.

ST: Harry Kane

In terms of pure goalscoring, Harry Kane is the best striker in the world at the moment. He may lack pace, but he can do everything else you would expect from a top class forward.

Kane scored and notched up an assist against PSG – not only can he score goals, he’s also a very creative forward with a wonderful range of passing.

ST: Ousmane Dembele

The most recent winner of the Ballon d’Or award, Ousmane Dembele is the best player in the world at the moment – he backed this statement up with a brilliant performance against Bayern.

Looking like a constant threat thoughout, he scored a penalty and then netted a smart near post finish in PSG’s 5-4 victory.