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The UEFA Champions League group stage has drawn to a close. Most of the usual suspects have made it to the Round of 16. However, a few European giants have also been shown the exit door. There were quite a lot of memorable matches in the opening phase of Europe's elite competition.
Plenty of standout performers in the UEFA Champions League so far
This year's UEFA Champions League has already featured plenty of spectacular individual performances. Sebastian Haller has already scored 10 goals while Robert Lewandowski has nine to his name. Cristiano Ronaldo produced multiple rescue acts to help Manchester United qualify for the Round of 16.
Mohamed Salah was sensational for Liverpool as they navigated what was purported to be a tough group with relative ease. It's always easy to identify the attackers who have done well because of their involvement in everything good that happens in the final third.
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Here, we take a look at five of the best midfielders in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season.
#5 Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Jude Bellingham was arguably Borussia Dortmund's best player in the UEFA Champions League. The Bundesliga outfit did not make it past the group stage and are now headed straight for the UEFA Europa League.
Bellingham was a standout performer for Dortmund in midfield. His awareness, movement and dribbling ability helped add a certain amount of dynamism to his side's midfield. Bellingham scored a goal and provided three assists in six appearances for Borussia Dortmund.
The 18-year-old drew the most number of fouls (20) in the group stages of the Champions League. He made 20 shot-creating actions and five goal-creating actions as well.
#4 Pedro Goncalves (Sporting Lisbon)
Sporting Lisbon made it to the Round of 16 at the expense of Borussia Dortmund. 23-year-old attacking midfielder Pedro Goncalves only started three games in the group stage but he made a lot of impact.
Goncalves was the man of the match in Sporting's 4-0 win over Besiktas and their 3-1 triumph over Borussia Dortmund. He scored a brace in each of those games and led from the front as the Portuguese outfit tried to make it out of a tough group.
Goncalves has four goals and an assist to his name in four appearances in the group stage. His return from a foot injury in October proved to be a game-changer for Sporting. Pote, as he is popularly known, is an adventurous customer in the final third.
He can slip in some lovely passes to his teammates and is capable of finding space in tight situations. The Portuguese international also has a vicious shot in him and his finishing is clinical more often than not.
#3 Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
Toni Kroos has been at his elegant best once again for Real Madrid. The German international kept things ticking at the heart of midfield and orchestrated play from a deep-lying position in midfield.
Kroos was out injured in the opening stages of the 2021-22 season. He returned in late September and came off the bench in Real Madrid's shock 2-1 loss against Sheriff Tiraspol. But once he was fully fit and pulling the strings for Carlo Ancelotti's men in midfield, there was no stopping Los Blancos.
Kroos clocked a pass accuracy rate of 95.8% which is the highest among all players to have played in the group stage. The 31-year-old scored a goal each against Sheriff Tiraspol and Inter Milan.
His ability to fire progressive passes and break opposition lines with his accurate distribution has been a crucial aspect of Real Madrid's game.
#2 Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
Manchester United's UEFA Champions League campaign could have gone off the rails so easily. They stared right in the face of embarrassment multiple times and then evaded it. Credit for that goes to the Portuguese pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.
While Ronaldo's multiple rescue acts have got a lot of plaudits, Fernandes' roles in those crucial wins cannot be ignored. He started his Champions League campaign off with a wonderful outside-of-the-boot cross for Cristiano Ronaldo's opener in the 2-1 loss against Young Boys.
The 27-year-old produced a man-of-the-match performance in Manchester United's wonderful 3-2 win over Atalanta. Fernandes was excellent in the second meeting with the Serie A outfit as well. He came on as a substitute in Manchester United's 2-0 win over Villarreal and set up Jadon Sancho for his first goal for his new club.
Fernandes finished the Champions League group stage with six assists in five appearances. He recorded an assist in each of the five games he played in the competition.
#1 Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
RB Leipzig may have crashed out of the Champions League group stage but Christopher Nkunku has been one of the stars of the competition so far. The French attacking midfielder was on fire for the Bundesliga outfit, scoring seven goals and providing an assist in six appearances.
It's not often that a player gets to hold his head high when his team has conceded six goals in a game. Nkunku accomplished that by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester City's 6-3 drubbing of RB Leipzig. In fact, Nkunku was named the man of the match for his heroics.
He scored a goal in Leipzig's 1-2 loss against Club Brugge. Nkunku was the best player on the pitch in the 2-2 draw against Paris Saint-Germain. But his best performance came in RB Leipzig's 5-0 thumping of Club Brugge away from home.
He scored two and assisted another in that game and was close to unplayable that night. Unfortunately for Nkunku and co., they've been condemned to the UEFA Europa League after finishing third in Group A.
