Round 3 of the UEFA Champions League campaign commences on Tuesday night, with Barcelona hosting Olympiacos and Kairat taking on Pafos.
While we decided to stick to a traditional approach in the first two rounds, essentially presenting our picks only restricted by the given budget, for Round 3, we’ve added an additional limitation: age. With the exception of our goalkeeper, who will be an Under-23 pick, our lineup is all about highlighting football’s next generation of Under-21 world-class players.
From rising stars already making the headlines to hidden gems ready for their breakout moment, these Under-21 players could be your ticket to an edge in Sofascore’s Fantasy Champions League!
Formation: 3-5-2
Lucas Chevalier (Bayer Leverkusen vs PSG) – €5.5M
Akin to the fact that Lucas Chevalier is currently the only Under-23 goalkeeper next to Kairat’s Sherkhan Kalmurza that has stood between the sticks in this Champions League campaign, he is quite a solid pick. Moreover, our “senior” in the squad should have a relatively quiet night against a Bayer team that has slowly picked up the pace, but is still miles from Xabi Alonso’s invincibles from the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign.
Cheavlier definitely wouldn’t be in the position that he is today if it weren’t for Donnarumma’s transfer to Man City, opening up a spot in a club looking to defend their last season’s honours. After all, an average Sofascore rating of 7.09 for Lille in Ligue 1 last season and a price tag of €40 million this summer justify his case.
Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona vs Olympiacos) – €6.4M
There are a couple of reasons that Barcelona’s baby-faced warrior is set to be the next Puyol. While only being eighteen, it seems like the young Catalan has held Barça’s back line for many years. In both LaLiga and the Champions League this season, he has been extremely consistent, a quality that he may have lacked last year, according to some critics.
Away at Newcastle and at home against PSG, Cubarsí picked up a 7.1 and 7.0 Sofascore rating, respectively. Much easier opposition, in the form of Olympiacos, will be arriving in Barcelona for Round 3, and Cubarsí should have a field day in defense.
António Silva (Newcastle vs Benfica) – €5.0M
If it may seem that Cubarsí has been on the scene for quite some time now, we have as well call Benfica’s António Silva
a veteran of the game. At only twenty-one, the Portuguese centre-back has racked up a staggering 208 appearances for his boyhood club. Reading the same old transfer rumours to Europe’s biggest clubs year in, year out, even António Silva’s probably surprised to still be playing in Portugal.
Despite not yet making a big money move, Silva’s form hasn’t wavered. With already 1000 minutes under his belt in the League, and an impressive 7.26 average Sofascore rating, the defensive machine that is António Silva should be feeling warm and ready for a tough night at St James’ Park.
Miloš Kerkez (Eintracht Frankfurt vs Liverpool) – €6.5M
Our first returnee in these Champions League Fantasy picks might be an underwhelming one. Despite Kerkez’s relatively high transfer fee for a left-back after a very impressive season for Bournemouth last year, his start for Liverpool, just like some of their other summer picks, hasn’t been streamline to say the least.
Kerkez is only twenty-one and has shown instances of world-class potential this season for Liverpool. The Reds, as a whole, will definitely be looking to bounce back after a tough defeat in Istanbul. What better way to establish yourself on the left and ahead of Robertson than against a struggling Eintracht Frankfurt side.
Geovany Quenda (Sporting vs Marseille) – €5.6M
One player that has definitely not gained the attention that he rightfully deserves is Sporting’s current and Chelsea’s future eighteen-year-old star Geovany Quenda. While the Blues were quick to acquire his talents, signing him for €52 million in March, many of his performances have gone under the radar.
He’s been phenomenal in the Champions League thus far, having an average Sofascore rating of 8.10 across his first two matches. His goal and assist in Round 1 against Kairat, earning him an 8.7 Sofascore rating, were crucial in Sporting’s successful start to this Champions League campaign. The Portuguese giants will be hosting an inform Marseille side, which should provide for an exciting fixture.
Jobe Bellingham (København vs Dortmund) – €6.5M
Borussia Dortmund couldn’t hold on without a Bellingham for more than a year as Jobe replaced Jude this summer prior to the Club World Cup. While Jobe hasn’t had the same initial boom as his older brother did when he arrived from Birmingham, the new Bellingham in town has been solid.
His role as a rotation player under Niko Kovač puts him as a leading candidate for a decent amount of minutes against a much weaker København side, which last away in Azerbaijan in Round 2. Dortmund’s emphatic 4-1 victory against Athletic Bilbao wasn’t used to the greatest extent by the twenty-year-old Englishman as he spent 70 minutes on the field with a relatively low output. He’ll be motivated to do much better against the Danish champions.
Carney Chukwuemeka (København vs Dortmund) – €6.0M
Unlike Bellingham, one Dortmund youngster who made the most of his playing time against Athletic Bilbao was Sofascore Player of the match Carney Chukwuemeka, with a goal and an 8.1 rating. Jobe’s fellow compatriot in midfield has had a similar start to the season, mostly coming off the bench for Adeyemi and Brandt.
Chukwuemaka’s superb performance in Round 2 should guarantee a spot in the first eleven against København. After all, it was Dortmund and Niko Kovač that decided to buy him off Chelsea after a great loan stint last season.
Kenan Yıldız (Real Madrid vs Juventus) – €7.0M
Real Madrid hosting Juventus on Wednesday night will see a clash of Türkiye’s two greatest young talents. While Arda Güler featured in our Sofascore Fantasy Round 1 picks, we’ve opted for Türkiye’s star on the wing this time around. Kenan Yıldız has found his form this season, playing brilliantly in both Serie A and the Champions League.
In Serie A and the Champions League, he’s earned an average Sofascore rating of 7.50 and 7.35, respectively. Real Madrid away at the Bernabéu is as tough as it gets, but Yıldız has played his best football against the biggest clubs he has faced this season. Identical Sofascore ratings of 8.4 with a goal and an assist in both matches against Dortmund and Inter portrays the case that Yıldız is not intimidated by tougher opposition.
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona vs Olympiacos) – €11.4M
This is a bit of a no-brainer, regardless of what type of squad you are building. Under-21 or not, Lamine Yamal is well… Lamine Yamal. One of the best players in the world, if not the best. Almost winning the Ballon d’Or at the age of eighteen is baffling, not to mention winning LaLiga and the Euros before entering the legal age of adulthood.
An 8.03 average Sofascore rating in LaLiga, two goals and three assists in four appearances. Despite a recent injury during the international break in September, he’s bounced back in style this weekend with an assist against Girona and should be set for an imposing performance against Olympiacos.
Dastan Satpaev (Kairat vs Pafos) – €4.5M
Set to be Kazakhstan’s first Premier League player, the highly talented seventeen-year-old will join Chelsea in August 2026. Satpaev is already a star and Kairat’s best player, having scored 12 goals and contributed 5 assists in 24 league appearances thus far. Not to mention that Satpaev is third highest-rated player in the Kazakhstani Premier league with an average Sofascore rating of 7.46.
If there’s going to be a round to select a Kairat player during this campaign, it’s definitely Round 3, as it’s the two Champions League debutants going head-to-head in Almaty. Kairat is expected to make the most of a home advantage, which in their case is literally quite a big deal when opposition teams have to travel for more than five hours, against a relatively equal rival in Pafos. What better way to announce yourself to the footballing world as a promising youngster than a great Champions League performance.
Francesco Pio Esposito (USG vs Inter) – €5.5M
Rarely have we seen such an effortless transition from Serie B to Serie A as Francesco Pio Esposito has portrayed for Inter this season. The twenty-first-century Italian expedition in attempting to find a world-class striker has started to lead towards his direction. In the space of less than a month, Esposito scored both his first goals in Serie A for Inter and for Italy, being the second highest-rated player with an 8.1 Sofascore rating in Italy’s win away in Estonia.
While he hasn’t been great in the Champions League, Esposito has been slowly starting to pick up the pace and rhythm needed to put in great performances week in, week out at the highest level. After scoring his first for Inter in Serie A and Italy, who knows, a first Champions League goal might be on the horizon against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Budget: €69.9M