Ronaldo the star man in Liverpool dominated Champions League best XI

Liverpool enjoyed another memorable European night at Anfield as they landed an impressive 3-0 win over Manchester City and rightly dominate our Champions League team of the week. As far as individually brilliant performances go, though, there were none better than Cristiano Ronaldo’s stand out display in Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Juventus. 

The Portugal international comes alive in Europe’s elite club competition and maintained his blistering Champions League form with two goals and one assist for the defending European champions to return a WhoScored.com rating of 9.94. His second was one that will be talked about for years to come and rightly so, with Ronaldo maximising his athleticism to score a stunning bicycle kick against legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. 

A familiar foe partners the 33-year-old in attack as Lionel Messi features in the Champions League team of the week after a influential display in Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Roma. While the Argentine failed to have a direct hand in a goal for the Blaugrana, it wasn’t for want of trying with Messi chipping in with seven shots, three key passes and seven successful dribbles. 

A former teammate of Messi’s features in midfield with Thiago Alcantara making the cut, with the Spaniard’s goal in Bayern Munich’s 2-1 win over Sevilla helping him gain a WhoScored.com rating of 8.53. Six successful dribbles, two interceptions and one tackle saw the Bayern star earn such an impressive rating on Tuesday. 

The remaining three midfielders each ply their trade for Liverpool, with goalscorers Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane making the cut. Salah set the Reds on the path to victory before Oxlade-Chamberlain added a second midway through the first half. Mane scored Liverpool’s third on the half hour mark, with the Senegal star earning the WhoScored.com man of the match in a stunning Reds showing on Wednesday night. 

Liverpool teammates Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold also make the cut after stand out displays to keep the Manchester City attack at bay. The former won four aerial duels at Anfield and utilised his proactive approach to defending to make four interceptions and seven clearances. The latter, meanwhile, has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, but was hugely effective against City as he made two tackles, seven interceptions and 10 clearances on Wednesday night to minimise Leroy Sane’s impact and return a WhoScored.com rating of 8.32. 

Brazilian Marcelo features on the opposite flank after netting in Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Juventus. The left-back pressed forward well, completing two dribbles in Turin, while one interception helped him to a WhoScored.com rating of 7.74. Gerard Pique rounds off the defence after attaining a WhoScored.com rating of 8.00 against Roma. Like Marcelo, the centre-back netted in his match, returned a pass success rate of 90.3% and won four aerial duels to round off a solid display. 

Completing the XI is Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas, who was a solid performer between the sticks against Juventus. The Costa Rican shotstopper made two important saves to extinguish any hopes the Old lady may have of upsetting the odds at the Bernabeu next week.