Champions League Team Of The Week

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Matchday 4 in the Champions League saw a few surprise performances, not least Anorthosis Famagusta holding the much-vaunted Internazionale side of José Mourinho to a thrilling 3-3 draw.

It was a week of mixed fortunes for the English clubs, with none of them picking up a win. Chelsea were soundly beaten by Roma while Manchester United and Liverpool played out 1-1 draws with Celtic and Atlético Madrid respectively. At the Emirates, Arsenal drew a blank against Fenerbahçe as their rotten form continues - with a clash against the Red Devils looming.

Real Madrid showed again why they do not have the credentials at the moment to win this competition as Juventus rolled into the Bernabeu and rolled out with three impressive points. Zenit St Petersburg gave themselves a Champions League life-line with a vital win in Belarus over BATE.

Elsewhere, Panathinaikos hammered Werder Bremen and Villarreal played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in Denmark against AaB. There was a French double over Romania as Lyon showed their class against Steaua Bucharest while Bordeaux saw off Cluj. The other French team, Marseille, were too hot for PSV.

A subdued Barcelona drew with Basel at home to end their impressive run and Shakthar succumbed to Sporting by a single goal.

Portuguese clubs had a double to remember as Porto downed Dynamo Kyiv in a close game while Fiorentina and Bayern Munich slit each other's throats to leave la Viola close to a Champions League exit.

Goal.com analysed each and every match in a bid to come up with the best eleven performers of the two nights of action. It was a testing task and there are sure to be some disagreements.

This is the side chosen by our team as a reflection of the best players of Matchday 4...

Formation 4-2-3-1

Goalkeeper

Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille)

Always quick off his line and never shy about putting his head and hands where others wouldn't put their feet. A sorely underrated goalkeeper who showed his worth and put a difficult few weeks behind him with a tremendous showing.

Defence

Anthony Reveillere (Olympique Lyon)

Provided width and balance all night against a limited Steaua Bucharest but nonetheless capped his performance with only his second ever Lyon goal, a terrifically taken effort. Great showing.

Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)

Once again, ever the rock at the back for Juventus. Did not put a foot wrong in terms of marking, positioning, interceptions, tackles as Real Madrid were shut out on their own turf.

Pape Diakhate (Dynamo Kyiv)

Excellent, strong and hard working, the Senegal international made some great tackles and was the best in a good back-line. Unlucky to be on the losing side but surely impressed some of the scouts watching the game between Porto and the Ukrainian champions.

Radek Sirl (Zenit)

Gave the away side an option going forward and maintained his composure in defence. Showed great technique and gave glimpses as to why he is beginning to be rated so highly.

Defensive Midfield

Momo Sissoko (Juventus)

Just like in the first game against los Merengues a fortnight ago, he was everywhere in the midfield line, practically shadowing the ball and hassling every man in a white shirt off it.

Jeremy Toulalan (Olympique Lyon)

Failed to put a foot wrong. Adept at breaking up play, passing and attacking, the French international was immense last night against Steaua.

Attacking Midfield

Giorgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos)

The clear ‘Man of the Match’ from the tie with Werder Bremen. The experienced international was dangerous from the start with his free-kick deliveries and passing.  His ball played in Mantzios for the opening goal, while his goal was just a piece of genius. 

Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus)

Two chances, two shots, two goals. Almost had a hat-trick. Not the flashiest or the most spectacular of displays but he needn’t be with this kind of conversion rate. His conditioning in the autumn of his career is testament to hard work, dedication and of course, a touch of class.

MirkoVucinic (Roma)

Looked bright all night and deserved his two goals. Superb finish to double Roma’s lead and did excellently to rob Mikel and ram home for the third. Chelsea were run ragged by the Montenegrin who revelled on the big stage.

Striker

Mamadou Niang (Olympique Marseille)

Plenty of pace, movement, and a devil in the finish. A joy to watch, as usual.

Mandanda

Reveillere      Diakhate     Chiellini     Sirl

Sissoko            Toulalan

Karagounis

Del Piero                                 Vucinic

Niang

Honourable mentions:

In goal, Sergey Veremenko (BATE) made a number of saves to keep the score to a minimum while Matthieu Valverde (Bordeaux) impressed in their win.

In defence, Christian Panucci (Roma) and Alexander Anyukov (Zenit) were tremendous in going forward for their respective sides, while Luis Perea (Atlético), Tim Simons (PSV) and Rolando (Porto) all put in excellent defensive shifts despite contrasting final results.

Daniele De Rossi (Roma) was a stand-out performer in the win over Chelsea, while Anatoliy Tymoschuk (Zenit) and Marcos Senna (Villarreal) were their usual efficient selves. Simao (Panathinaikos) shackled the dangerous Diego extremely well.

Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Fabio Rochemback (Sporting), Vincent Laban (Anorthosis), Juninho (Lyon) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) all featured prominently in their sides' play and Zenit duo Danny and Konstantin Zyryanov were outstanding in midfield.

Ahead of them on the pitch, Andrei Arshavin (Zenit) wreaked havoc as did Yoan Gouffran (Bordeaux) and Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille) for their respective teams.

Up front was where the main difficulty in selecting players lay; Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit), Mario Balotelli (Inter), Hulk (Porto), Carlitos (Basel), Jeppe Curth (AaB) and Scott McDonald (Celtic) were all commendable, but alas, there are only so many slots to fill in the team.

Any omissions? Let Goal.com know what YOU think!

The Goal.com team