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Fantasy Focus: Barrios breaks out
Outside of the FC Bayern München players involved in their team’s romp against Auckland City, midfielder Pablo Barrios ($6.0m) has produced the highest points return of the FIFA Club World Cup™ Fantasy game so far.
Needing to bounce back from a 4-0 first up defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético de Madrid did just that with a 3-1 victory against Seattle Sounders FC in the Emerald City. At the heart of the win was 22-year-old Barrios, who scored twice in addition to picking up both the scouting bonus and an additional three points in tackles made.
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Remarkably those two goals doubled the tally that the Madrid-born midfielder has produced in his entire, 76-match, La Liga career to date so he’s certainly a player to watch going forward in the USA.
Elsewhere, keeper Weverton ($4.9m) and the Palmeiras defence kept a second straight clean sheet to reward savvy investors while Botafogo’s Igor Jesus ($4.1) is making light of his budget price and low ownership as he scored for the second match in a row to sit second to only Thomas Muller ($7.0m) as the highest-scoring forward in the game.
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SE Palmeiras 2-0 Ah Ahly
Star players
GK Weverton (Palmeiras, $4.9m) – 9 points
DEF Gustavo Gomez (Palmeiras, $5.1m) – 9 points
DEF Murilo (Palmeiras, $5.1m) – 9 points
Low returns
FWD Wessam Abou Ali (Al Ahly, $4.2m) – 0 points
FWD Vitor Roque (Palmeiras, $6.5m) – 1 point
GK Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly, $4.1m) – 1 point
Inter Miami CF 2-1 FC Porto
Star players
MID Telasco Segovia (Miami, $4.8m) – 10 points
FWD Samu Aghehowa (Porto, $4.2m) – 8 points
FWD Lionel Messi (Miami, $10.5m) – 7 points
Low returns
DEF Francisco Moura (Porto, $4.1m) – 1 point
FWD Luis Suarez (Miami, $8.0m) - 2 points
MID Sergio Busquets (Miami, $5.0m) - 3 points
Seattle Sounders 1-3 Atlético de Madrid
Star players
MID Pablo Barrios (Atlético, $6.0m) – 17 points
DEF Axel Witsel (Atlético, $4.9m) – 10 points
MID Albert Rusnak (Seattle, $5.4m) – 10 points
Low returns
FWD Antoine Griezmann (Atlético, $8.5m) – 1 point
FWD Julian Alvarez (Atlético, $9.0m) – 2 points
GK Jan Oblak (Atlético, $5.5m) – 3 points
Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Botafogo
Star players
GK John (Botafogo, $4.6m) – 9 points
DEF Vitinho (Botafogo, $4.8m) – 9 points
FWD Igor Jesus (Botafogo, $4.1m) – 9 points
Low returns
MID Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG, $9.2m) - 2 points
DEF Achraf Hakimi (PSG, $6.5m) – 2 points
MID Desire Doue (PSG, $8.2m) – 2 points
Next up (Friday 20 June)
SL Benfica v Auckland City FC
CR Flamengo v Chelsea FC
LAFC v Espérance
FC Bayern München v CA Boca Juniors
Highest owned players in action
MID Michael Olise (Bayern, $9.4m) – 40.8%
FWD Harry Kane (Bayern, $11.0m) – 34.5%
DEF Marc Cucurella (Chelsea, $5.8m) – 26.0%
MID Cole Palmer (Chelsea, $9.6m) – 22.3%
MID Jamal Musiala (Bayern, $9.2m) – 19.8%
Differentials
With the amateurs from Auckland coming off a 10-0 thrashing in their opening match, it makes plenty of sense to invest heavily in their opponents here, SL Benfica. The risk, of course, is squad rotation from the Portuguese side but there appears value across the board. This fixture could also be one to target with the 12th man booster.
Surprisingly, only midfielder Angel Di Maria ($7.3m) sits above 15 per cent ownership, with forward Vangelis Pavlidis ($7.8m) and goal-scoring defender Nicolas Otamendi ($5.2m) then emerging as real value plays.
Elsewhere, Giorgian de Arrascaeta ($6.2) was, as expected, the beating heart of the CR Flamengo attack in their opening and in a top-of-the-table clash with Chelsea FC he could be set for more returns.
Finally, with both LAFC and Espérance having lost their opening fixtures, nothing less than a win will do and that sees forwards Denis Bouanga ($7.0m) and Rodrigo Rodrigues ($6.0m) come into consideration.
