Champions League TEAM OF THE WEEK: Two Premier League stars and a former Man United defender make the WORST XI after a difficult week – as English clubs have only one representative in the BEST XI

Two Premier League stars were the worst team of the week in the Champions League, after a difficult few days for English clubs in the competition.

The new format for Europe’s elite club competition is starting to take shape, with all 36 teams having played four of their eight matches.

Teams finishing in the top eight automatically qualify for the last 16 stage, while teams ranked ninth through 24th compete in an additional play-off round, meaning the battle for the table is starting to heat up.

Aston Villa, Man City and Arsenal all suffered defeats, with Liverpool the only Premier League side to record a win as they beat Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 4-0.

City suffered a particularly embarrassing defeat when beaten 4-1 by Sporting Lisbon in Ruben Amorim’s last home game in charge of the Portuguese side before moving to Man United.

Two Premier League stars made Sofascore’s Champions League the worst team of the week

Man City, Arsenal and Aston Villa were all defeated, with Liverpool being the only English team to win

City were defeated 4–1 by Sporting Lisbon in Ruben Amorim’s last match in charge of the club

Sporting went all out in the second half, but City had the chance to pull a goal back at 3-2, but Erling Haaland blasted his penalty against the crossbar.

And the Norwegian found himself in the unfamiliar position of earning a place in Sofascore’s worst XI from the fourth matchweek after posting a rating of just 6.1.

He was joined in the line-up by Arsenal’s Mikel Merino, with the Spaniard guilty of giving away a penalty for handball before being drawn against Inter Milan at half-time.

The midfielder made a slow start to his Gunners career and could only manage a 6.1 rating at the San Siro.

Elsewhere, former Man United star Daley Blind lined up at left-back in a 5-3-2 formation for the worst XI, with the Girona defender also rated 6.1 after LaLiga were beaten 4-0 by PSV.

He was joined by teammates David Lopez (6.1) and Arnau Martinez (5.6), with the latter suffering the ignominy of being sent off in the second half.

The trio of Girona defenders was supplemented by two from Red Star Belgrade, who were beaten 5-2 by Barcelona on Wednesday.

Central defenders Nasser Djiga (5.5) and Uros Spajic (6.0) were in the squad, while Slovan Bratislava keeper Dominik Takac (5.7) also came in after the Slovak side lost 4-1 at home to Dinamo Zagreb.

Erling Haaland is in the lead after his penalty miss gave him a 6.1 on Sofascore

Arsenal’s Mikel Merino was the other Premier League star in the worst XI after a poor evening

Former Man United defender Daley Blind also had a place after Girona’s 4-0 defeat by PSV

Joining Merino in midfield was another Red Star player, with Timi Elsnik (6.0) – who previously represented Derby County, Swindon, Mansfield and Northampton – alongside Feyenoord’s Chris-Kevin Nadje (6.0), who is from the field was sent.

Arne Slot’s former side suffered a humbling 3-1 draw at home to previously winless Red Bull Salzburg.

The XI was completed by Sparta Prague star Jakub Pesek (6.1), with the Czech side suffering a damaging 2-1 defeat to French minnows Brest as they continue to upset their Champions League chances.

To further complicate a difficult few days for the England side, only one Premier League star made Sofascore’s Champions League best XI of the week.

Given their victory, Liverpool have the sole Premier League representative, with Luis Diaz securing a spot after a stunning performance against the German side.

The Colombian scored a hat-trick at Anfield in the second half, shining in an unfamiliar role as a striker and achieving a rating of 9.3.

Diaz has taken his game to a new level under Slot, scoring nine goals and adding two assists in 15 games this season.

He is positioned on the left of midfield in a 3-5-2 formation for the stars of the fourth round of the competition.

Luis Diaz was the sole Premier League representative after scoring a hat-trick for Liverpool

The Reds impressed at Anfield on Tuesday as they defeated Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 4-0

The Colombian was joined in midfield by Barcelona’s Raphinha (8.8), who scored 22 goals in just 16 games in the 2024/2025 season.

Raphinha scored and assisted one as he played a key role in Hansi Flick’s side seeing off Red Star with ease.

The Brazilian has now scored five goals and added two assists in just four Champions League games this season.

Meanwhile, Malik Tillman scored a near-perfect rating of 9.9 after providing two assists and scoring a goal in PSV’s 4-0 draw against Girona.

In midfield were Shakhtar Donetsk’s Georgiy Sudakov (8.8), who scored the winner in their win over Young Boys, and Nicolas Kuhn (8.8), whose brace inspired Celtic’s 3-1 win over RB Leipzig.

Manchester United target Viktor Gyokeres (9.1) leads the way, while the Sporting Lisbon star adds a hat-trick against Man City.

This means that the Swede has scored a whopping 23 goals in 17 games so far this season.

Dinamo Zagreb’s Sandro Kulenovic (8.8) joins Gyokeres up front after his brace in the Croatian side’s memorable 4-1 win over Slovan Bratislava.

Barcelona star Raphinha continued his good form by scoring in their win over Red Star Belgrade

Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick against Man City and gave Ruben Amorim the perfect send-off

AC Milan and France goalkeeper Mike Maignan (8.9) secured the number 1 spot after a brilliant match against Real Madrid.

Paulo Fonseca’s side defeated Los Blancos 3-1 on a memorable night when Real had 23 shots.

In front of him, Kim Min-jae (8.1), Ryan Flamingo (8.2) and Berat Djimsiti (8.0) form the back three.

All three defenders kept clean sheets in wins for Bayern, PSV and Atalanta respectively.

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