Best Captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 17

Confusion around captaincy is a common thing in fantasy football, and many are unsure who to give the armband. Here, we take a look at the options and pick out the best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 17, whilst also offering up some differentials.

This week UCL Fantasy managers can captain just one player, so making sure we pick the right one will be vital for success this week.

Best Captain

There are plenty of viable captaincy options this week, but since we only have one shot with the armband, we need a player who can offer multiple routes to points.

We also have to take into account that Champions League finals are not usually high scoring games. In fact, four of the previous five finals have ended 1-0. In addition, a clean sheet was kept in all five of the last finals.

One of those players is Achraf Hakimi (€5.8m). The French side have shown to be fully capable of keeping a clean sheet in the Champions League – banking one against both Arsenal and Liverpool in the previous rounds.

If PSG fail to keep a clean sheet then Hakimi still has the ability to rake in points. Offensively he’s one of the best in Europe. In fact, not many defenders can even get near his total of 18 goal contributions across Ligue 1 and the Champions League.

Captaining Hakimi also has other factors at play. For those looking to stack up on the PSG defence, then captaining the Moroccan would provide an extra clean sheet potentially.

Be sure to check out the clean sheet and scoring odds with our UCL Fantasy Matchday 17 Player Tracker.

The Next Best Option

Alternatively, Denzel Dumfries (€5.6m) offers exactly what Achraf Hakimi does. Inter may be slight underdogs going into the game, but they have featured in a Champions League final twice during the previous four years.

Inter are evidently a good tournament side, and a huge contributing factor towards that is their defence, one that has managed more clean sheets than any other side in the competition. Three clean sheets in their previous five outings further backs that up.

Dumfries has always offered more than clean sheets though. This season alone the Dutchman has produced 20+ attacking returns across all competitions.

Similarly with Dumfries, those stacking up on the Inter backline, potentially gain an additional clean sheet return if successful. What is even more tempting with Dumfries, is that he’s unlikely to play into extra time, which increases his clean sheet chances.

Alternatives

There is a very realistic chance that we see goals scored too. Banking on a team keeping a clean sheet in any given game seems difficult to predict right these days.

If you are looking to captain an attacker then look no further than Ousmane Dembele (€8.7m). The Frenchman faces a side who shipped three goals in each of their previous two matches against Barcelona. He also heads into the game with a season tally of 39 attacking returns across his Ligue 1 and Champions League games.

Dembele isn’t the only attacker UCL Fantasy managers should consider. Backing the penalty taker could be a wise play. In that case we look to central midfielder Vitinha (€7.3m). As well as scoring back to back goals and securing back to back player of the match awards against Brest, he also banked six-pointers against both Liverpool and Arsenal recently.

There are lots of great differential captaincy options. You can’t rule out PSG midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (€7.6m), or Inter forward Marcus Thuram (€7.6m). Both players have proven lethal for their sides during the current campaign.