{"id":4007,"date":"2026-04-09T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=4007"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:43:20","slug":"champions-league-quarter-finals-best-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=4007","title":{"rendered":"Champions League Quarter-Finals Best XI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n      <!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re through the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. It was a period of mixed fortunes for clubs in the Premier League \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/goonernews.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arsenal<\/a> were able to overcome Sporting CP at the Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade, but Liverpool were outclassed by PSG in a 2-0 defeat.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That aside, who were the best individual performers from the first leg of the quarter-finals? Here is our bext XI from the most recent set of European fixtures.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Havertz Snatches First Leg Lead \ud83d\udd34 | Sporting CP 0-1 Arsenal | UEFA Champions League Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ij2QUCFc9Do?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GK: David Raya<\/h2>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"0fab81ce12e48a0794275e1d82449fb1\" image-id=\"1075698933\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support --><\/p>\n<p>A debate has begun to circulate in football \u2013 is David Raya the best goalkeeper in the world? If you only take the current season into account, then the answer is a wholehearted \u2018yes\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>Raya made some spectacular saves to maintain Arsenal\u2019s clean sheet against Sporting CP, denying them on five seperate occasions over the course of 90 minutes. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">RB: Ashraf Hakimi<\/h2>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"0fab81ce12e48a0794275e1d82449fb1\" image-id=\"1075714712\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support --><\/p>\n<p>Liverpool had some impressive attacking talent on their left side against PSG, but none of them were able to give Achraf Hakimi much to think about. <\/p>\n<p>The Moroccan international controlled his flank, making some key tackles and offering a useful option out wide in an attacking sense. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CB: William Saliba<\/h2>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"0fab81ce12e48a0794275e1d82449fb1\" image-id=\"1075667538\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support --><\/p>\n<p>William Saliba continues to make his case for being the best centre-back in the world \u2013 he put forth a largely flawless display against Sporting CP on Tuesday evening. <\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t have too much work to do, as Arsenal\u2019s midfield press largely kept the Portuguese giants at bay. Nevertheless, Saliba dealt with everything that came his way with his trademark consummate ease. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CB: Robin Le Normand<\/h2>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"0fab81ce12e48a0794275e1d82449fb1\" image-id=\"1075723204\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support --><\/p>\n<p>Robin Le Normand had to make several adjustments through Atletico Madrid\u2019s win over Barcelona, but was able to adapt to every situation.<\/p>\n<p>His centre-back partner, David Hancko, suffered an injury in the first-half and Diego Simeone was forced into a change. Then, Barcelona had a man sent off, meaning Le Normand saw much more of the ball than he would have anticipated. Nevertheless, the Spanish international held his nerve and kept a clean sheet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Smash and Grab For Atleti! \ud83d\ude01 | Barcelona 0-2 Atletico Madrid | UEFA Champions League Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CIMj9CZ0m7w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>      <!-- Article End -->\n    <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re through the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. It was a period of mixed fortunes for clubs in the Premier League \u2013 Arsenal were able to overcome Sporting CP at the Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade, but Liverpool were outclassed by PSG in a 2-0 defeat. That aside, who were the best individual performers from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}