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#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.
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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.
