SOCCER

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Soccer Helper for UCL 10/28/20

Angeliño went off last week in the Champions League and could do it again on Wednesday. Who else should we look to roster on this slate?

Another Champions League slate is on tap for Wednesday, with some of the biggest teams and best players in action. Let's look at the clubs who are on it, with odds coming from EPL odds:

HomeDrawAway
Juventus (+195)+240Barcelona (+140)
Ferencvaros (+230)+220Dynamo Kiev (+125)
Club Brugge (+120)+240Lazio (+230)
Manchester United (+125)+240RB Leipzig (+210)
Sevilla (-175)+290Rennes (+550)
Dortmund (-340)+470Zenit (+850)


Forwards to Target

Erling Haaland ($10,200): It's tough to recommend an expensive forward who isn't Lionel Messi when he's on the slate, but a very difficult matchup against a stout Juventus defense potentially lowers our expectations for Messi. So if we are going to pay up, we can go with Norwegian goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland. Haaland has been on a tear since the beginning of last season, kicking off the Champions League group stage with a hat trick and finishing with 10 goals in the tournament.

Haaland has picked up from where he left off last season, with six goals in six games in all competitions. Since joining Borussia Dortmund in January, he has averaged over one goal per 90 minutes. In this match, Dortmund will be at home against Zenit St. Petersburg. Dortmund are the biggest favorite on the slate, even if they aren't giant favorites like some of the teams we've seen on the last few slates. Haaland has anytime goal-scoring odds of -200, which are the best on the slate. This makes Haaland a fine play in any format.

Suso ($6,200): Sevilla are the second-biggest favorites on the slate but only come in at -190. This has left some of their players at lower salaries than they perhaps should be, and that includes Suso. Suso has been a good DraftKings fantasy producer in the past few seasons with AC Milan as a player who loves to cross. He averaged over six crosses and two shot assists per 90 minutes in every season he played for Milan. Sevilla should play well here and dominate the ball, as they are the team with the best possession rate in La Liga, according to WhoScored.com. If that's the case, Suso should get opportunities to cross balls into the box. He's one of the better floor plays as a forward and comes at a very affordable salary of just $6,200.

Felipe Caicedo ($4,000): Lazio are having serious issues with a COVID-19 outbreak in their team. That will lead to some of their squad players having to start this match, likely including Felipe Caicedo. Caicedo has been a decent player for Lazio in the past two seasons, scoring at least eight goals in each of them while starting 18 games or fewer. Now, getting to start against a team like Club Brugge, who aren't an intimidating matchup for him, Caicedo comes in as one of the lowest salaried players who is likely to start at forward. This makes him a viable punt option, who can pay off for you without even scoring a goal. If you do get a goal for this very low salary, it would be a huge boost for tournament lineups.

Midfielders to Target

Bruno Fernandes ($10,400): Bruno again proved that he is worth spending up for in his last match against Chelsea, as he scored 15.7 DraftKings points without a goal or an assist. That's basically his floor, with his ceiling being very high due to his penalty taking role and ability to get assists. Manchester United do not have the easiest matchup on this slate against a solid RB Leipzig team, but there are a lot of matches that are projected to be close games, and Bruno is one of the few expensive players on the slate that we can rely on. He's one of the best cash game plays on the slate and is worth locking into those lineups for the safety of what he will give you at that salary.

Ruud Vormer ($7,600): Vormer is a set-piece taker for Club Brugge, and he tends to rack up the crosses in the Champions League. He had six in Brugge's opening group stage match and also added an assist. We know how bad of a state Lazio are in going into this match, which should allow Vormer and Brugge to attack more. They've moved to favorites in this match after initially opening as underdogs due to the situation their opponents face. If it gets any worse by kickoff, that will only benefit the Belgian team. Vormer is another good floor player on a slate that doesn't have a ton of them, meaning he'll be a player you'll want to target at this range of salary.

Mykola Shaparenko ($4,900): Sometimes on these European slates, we'll have to do deep research on teams we are not familiar with at all, and that is the case with this Ferencvaros versus Dynamo Kiev match. If you do the research, you can find good plays at cheaper salaries, and you can find one on Kiev in Mykola Shaparenko. He had 9.9 DK points in a very tough matchup against Juventus, taking both of Kiev's corner kicks. Now, he'll get to face arguably one of the worst teams in the competition in Ferencvaros. If he could get the 9.9 he got in the last match, he'd be worth it at this salary. The hope is that he will get lots of corners and contribute with a goal or an assist, which would make him a great value play in any lineup.

Tyler Adams ($3,000): If you need complete punt and want to roster an American, Adams is the stone minimum and is in the projected starting lineup for RB Leipzig. If he started at right back like that says, he could get some crosses to pay off that very cheap salary.

Defenders to Target

Angeliño ($5,900): If you played Angeliño last week in the Champions League, he paid off big time. We can't expect the two goals he scored, but he is one of the more attacking full backs in the Champions League this season, so him getting forward for those goals shouldn't be a surprise. He gets a share of corner kicks for RB Leipzig and is averaging nearly seven crosses per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga this season. Manchester United have not been great defensively this season, conceding over two goals per game in the Premier League and allowing the sixth-most shots per game. Angeliño is one of the few defenders with set pieces on the slate, making him the best at the position to spend up on for this slate.

Eduard Sobol ($4,400): Sobol had seven crosses in Club Brugge's last match away to Zenit and now is back at home against a thin Lazio squad. If he's a full-back who likes to get forward and attack, his salary is way too low at just $4,400. He has averaged 1.8 shots per game in nine appearances in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League this season, which is a good number for a defender. Sobol might be at a higher salary if he played for a more well-known team, so let's take this discount and roster him.

Goalkeepers to Target

Neto ($4,800): With Ronaldo out and Juventus set to be without other key pieces, Barcelona will have an easier trip to Turin than most other opponents would. Juventus have not looked like the same dominant team that they have been in the past, with three draws in five league games this season. Neto is a fine option given the circumstances, as it will be tough for this Juventus team to dominate Barcelona, even at home.

Alfred Gomes ($3,700): If looking cheap, Gomes makes sense. He plays for the third best team in France in Rennes, so his team aren't quite minnows. He'll face a Sevilla side that have scored just five goals in five league matches and failed to score in the first group stage match. A lot of times when you are dumpster diving at this salary range, you'll have to take a goalkeeper you really feel uncomfortable with. That shouldn't be the case for Gomes, who is unlikely to be blown away by Sevilla in this game.


Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.