Europa League Team of the Week: Lo Celso, Evans and Bailey shine
The final matchday of the Europa League group stages usually means a number of dead-rubber games but this year’s concluding matches were full of fascinating games and fantastic performances from some of Europe’s best players.
The best individual performance over the course of the games came from none other than Hoffenheim forward Maximillian Beier, who scored two goals and provided an assist for a third in his team’s 4-1 victory over KAA Gent and picked up an impressive 9.6 rating.
Elsewhere up front we turn to another Bundesliga talent in Leon Bailey (8.3) who stole headlines in Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-0 win over Slavia Praha with two goals to his name. He’s joined by Dinamo Zagreb wide player Lirim Kastrati (8.8), who picked up a goal and an assist for his team.
In midfield, Tottenham Hotspur’s Argentine star Giovanni Lo Celso (9.4) outshone most players in the competition with his impressive display and goal against Antwerp on Thursday night. Alongside him in the middle of the park are Zagreb’s Lovro Majer (8.6) for his two assists and PSV’s Adrian Fein (8.2), who came on in the 17th minute for an injured teammate and ended up providing two assists.
Milan full-back Diogo Dalot (8) gets a mention in the team of the week for setting up the only goal in his side’s victory over Sparta Praha. He’s joined in defence by Rapid Wien right back Filip Stojkovic (7.9) for a tremendous defensive performance, as well as Leicester’s Jonny Evans (8.2) and Real Sociedad’s Igor Zubeldia (8.2) as the best central defenders of the matchday.
Between the posts we have Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu (7.8), who made no more than four vital saves against Sparta Praha to ensure his side went on to win their game with a slender 1-0 lead.