Champions League winners Chelsea have three players make knockout stage XI
The Champions League season drew a close over the weekend as Chelsea overcame Manchester City in Porto on Saturday night. A Kai Havertz goal, his first in the competition for the west London side, shortly before the break proved the difference between the Premier League pair as the Blues lifted the trophy for the second time in their history.
The champions have three players make the WhoScored knockout stage best XI as we run through the top performing stars from the last-16 to the final, of those to have made five or more appearances.
3. Phil Foden (Manchester City) - 7.72
While a chunk of Phil Foden's Premier League showings came from the bench, the England youngster was a regular in the Champions League, starting 12 of 13 matches. Foden started every knockout stage game for the Premier League champions and yielded a solid WhoScored rating of 7.72 across those seven outings. In all, the 21-year-old won more WhoScored man of the match awards (4) than any other player in the Champions League in 2020/21, two of which came in the knockout stages.
Only Erling Haaland (10) scored more Champions League goals than Kylian Mbappe (8) this season. The PSG youngster came alive in the knockout stages, however, with six of his eight goals coming from the last-16 stage until their semi-final exit at the hands of Manchester City. Mbappe was also one of two players, along with Juan Cuadrado, to land a perfect WhoScored 10 rating in a Champions League knockout stage match, doing so in PSG's memorable 4-1 win at Barcelona in February.
1. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) - 7.83
A key player in Manchester City's progression to the Champions League final, Riyad Mahrez was unfortunate that his top showings were unable to guide the Cityzens to continental glory. The Algerian was unable to contribute to a goal in the group stages, but upped his game for the knockout rounds, scoring four times, including a brace at home against PSG, and providing two assists. Chelsea were the only side who were able to deny Mahrez from scoring or assisting in the knockout stages as the 30-year-old yielded a WhoScored rating of 7.83 in the Champions League in 2021.
