Manchester City defender leads the way in Champions League best XI
There were 54 goals scored across the opening 16 games of the 2017/18 Champions League season, an average 3.38 per game. Needless to say, Europe’s elite club competition returned with a bang. Four of the representatives in the first team of the week scored two or more goals in their respective games, with an unlikely candidate leading the way. John Stones was our player of the week in gameweek one, earning a WhoScored rating of 9.94. Not only did the Manchester City star bag a brace in the 4-0 trouncing of Feyenoord, but he exhibited exemplary distribution, completing 131 of 134 attempted passes as he utilised his WhoScored.com strength of 'passing'.
The usual suspects netted twice in their games too, with Edinson Cavani partnering Harry Kane in attack. The former put Celtic to the sword, while the latter, who is of course back among the goals after failing to net once again in August, netted either side of half time as Tottenham defeated Borussia Dortmund. Of course, it wouldn’t be a team of the week without Lionel Messi, who was on hand to end break his duck against Gianluigi Buffon, with his two-goal salvo helping Barcelona to a resounding 3-0 win over last season’s finalists Juventus.
The tenacious Saul Niguez features on the opposite flank, despite Atletico Madrid’s 0-0 draw with Roma. The 22-year-old was in superb form against the Italian side as he rattled the woodwork twice, made three key passes, five successful dribbles and seven tackles to earn a rating of 9.67. Compatriot Thiago Alcantara joins Saul in the midfield, with his nine tackles against Anderlecht the joint-best, with Casemiro, in a Champions League match this season. And while Benfica succumbed to a surprise 2-1 home defeat to CSKA Moscow, Andrija Zivkovic did enough to deserve a spot alongside Thiago in the middle of the park, with the young Serb registering one assist from his five key passes.
Sergio Ramos is the man to partner up with Stones at the heart of the defence, with the Spaniard - like Stones - getting his name on the scoresheet, albeit just the once. Ramos has now scored at least one goal in six of the last seven Champions League seasons, and another mature performance, where he made four interceptions, registered a pass success rate of 93.8% and won five aerial duels, guaranteed the 31-year-old a place in the team of the week.
Flanking Ramos to his right is Manchester United winger-turned-full-back Ashley Young, who impressed on his first start of the season for Jose Mourinho’s side. He provided the assist for Marouane Fellaini’s opener to get the ball rolling for United on Tuesday night and was a regular attacking threat, completing two dribbles and making one key passes. Rafinha makes up the defence having deputised splendidly for David Alaba at left-back. The experienced Brazilian made six tackles and four interceptions over the 90 minutes to ensure Anderlecht had minimal opportunities to score.
His compatriot Alisson rounds off the XI after a solid performance in Roma’s 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid. The Serie A side were second best for much of the encounter, yet Alisson routinely denied the Spanish outfit as he made a gameweek high nine saves to ensure a clean sheet for Roma.
