Fantasy Football winner announced
This season, UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football is broken down into two
phases: the Group Stage game (after which scores are returned to zero), and
the Knockout Stage game (which runs up to the semi-finals). Matchday 6 marked
the end of the Group Stage game and we would like to thank all of you for
participating. Our congratulations go to Jan Kuszaj, who is top of the leader
board with a staggering 389 points. Jan will be receiving two tickets to the
UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul.

High average
A Real Madrid CF and Poland fan, Jan scored a remarkable average of just
under 65 points per matchday. Any manager finishing ahead of over 190,000
competitors would have to be astute, but where Jan made his mark was on
Matchdays 2 and 4 when he twice picked the highest scoring player as his team
captain.

Picking the right captain
On Matchday 2, Jan picked FC Bayern München forward Roy Makaay as his
captain, and he scored a hat-trick against AFC Ajax. On Matchday 4, his
captain was Manchester United FC striker Ruud van Nistelrooij, who scored a
record equalling four goals against AC Sparta Praha. Only three players had
previously scored four goals in a single Champions League game: Marco van
Basten, Simone Inzaghi and Dado Pr?o.

Diversification counts
In the world of banking, diversifying your investments is a way of balancing
risk and return. Jan applied this idea to his team, only rarely picking more
that one player from the same team per matchday. The exception to this rule
was his defence, based around Juventus defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca
Zambrotta, even if he brought in a replacement for Thuram on Matchday 6. As
Juventus only conceded a goal on Matchday 6, when they were already qualified
for the first knockout round, this tactic worked remarkably well.

Trusting Figo
As a Madrid fan, Jan was also faithful to Luís Figo. Despite scoring only
one point on Matchday 1, Madrid's Portuguese star finished the stage as the
highest scoring midfield player in the game with 43 points - a reward for
Jan's trust.

Transfers count
Interestingly, the game's top manager did not hesitate to spend money on
transfers. He made 13 in all, including four ahead of Matchday 4, and another
four ahead of Matchday 6. Jan also had money left in the bank after Matchday
6, which shows that picking the right players gets you more points than
simply getting your hands on the most expensive players you can afford.

Runners-up honoured
Jan finished six points clear of Ricardo Wong Tapia's Aviation crew, whose
gradual but consistent rise through the ranks only really put the team on the
map in the last couple of matchdays. Antonella Carretta's Prozac team
finished third on a high of 367 points. Prozac scored 81 points on Matchday
5, taking them from 15,930th to 9th place. Picking Kaká as captain was key
to that success. AC Milan's Brazilian playmaker scored twice against FC
Shakhtar Donetsk.

Looking ahead
Remember that after the first knockout round draw, all Fantasy Football
managers will have the opportunity to pick their squad for the knockout
rounds. With all squads, points and budgets set back to zero, this will be a
great chance to build on what you have learned from the group stage and
compete for the top prize of two more tickets to the UEFA Champions League
final. Why not join us for live coverage of the draw at 12.00CET on Friday so
that you can start thinking about your team for the knockout rounds as soon
as possible?
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FROM 166.111.180.39