The UEFA Technical Observer Group has named its Team of the Week from the Champions League round of 16 first legs, with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray each featuring two players. Federico Valverde of Real Madrid earned Player of the Week honors for his hat-trick against Manchester City. No Premier League players made the selection despite six English teams advancing to this stage.
The Team of the Week, presented by Crypto.com, highlights standout performers from the eight first-leg matches played earlier in the week. Selected by the UEFA Technical Observer Group with support from the UEFA Game Insights Unit in Nyon, Switzerland, the all-star XI includes goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards who excelled in their respective ties.
In goal, Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid impressed with a superb forward pass that set up Federico Valverde's opening goal against Manchester City, followed by a late save to preserve a three-goal lead. He faced four shots and stopped all of them.
Defensively, Josip Stanišić of Bayern Munich scored his first Champions League goal to open the scoring at Atalanta and created three chances. Robin Le Normand of Atletico Madrid dominated duels, winning all three aerial battles, and headed in their fourth goal against Tottenham Hotspur. Robert Andrich, captain of Bayer Leverkusen, led from the back with effective pressing and nodded in the opener against Arsenal. Ismail Jakobs of Galatasaray contributed to a clean sheet versus Liverpool, recording ten ball recoveries—the most this week—along with four clearances and three interceptions.
In midfield, Valverde delivered a brilliant performance against City, scoring his first Champions League hat-trick, winning 11 duels and linking defense to attack. Mario Lemina of Galatasaray netted his first club goal of the 2025/26 season to secure victory over Liverpool, showing strong pressing intensity.
Further forward, Sondre Brunstad Fet of Bodø/Glimt won and converted a penalty for the opener against Sporting and sparked the second goal with an interception. Michael Olise of Bayern scored two goals and provided an assist in a 6-1 win over Atalanta, creating six key passes—the highest tally—and recovering eight balls.
Julián Alvarez of Atletico Madrid contributed two goals and an assist—a lay-off for Marcos Llorente’s opener—plus two key passes against Spurs. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, substituting for Paris Saint-Germain against Chelsea, assisted Vitinha’s goal and added two strikes of his own to turn a 2-2 draw into a lead.
The selection notably excludes any players from the six Premier League teams in the round of 16, all of whom either lost or drew their first legs: Tottenham (2-5 at Atletico), Manchester City (three-goal defeat at Real Madrid), Chelsea (2-5 at PSG), Liverpool (loss at Galatasaray), Newcastle (draw vs Barcelona) and Arsenal (1-1 at Leverkusen). Notable omissions include Victor Osimhen, Antoine Griezmann and Bradley Barcola.
