With the third round of fixtures complete, here's a look at the best Champions League XI.

It's been a decent Champions League week for goalkeepers, aside from Manchester City's Claudio Bravo, with Tottenham's Hugo Lloris making an amazing save from Bayer Leverkusen's Javier Hernandez and Leicester's Kasper Schmeichel producing a spectacular stop of a late shot by Copenhagen's Andreas Cornelius.

The plaudits, though, must go to a true modern great, without whom Juventus would not have won 1-0 at Lyon. Gianluigi Buffon saved a penalty from Alexandre Lacazette, before his brilliance denied both Nabil Fekir and Corentin Tolisso. When the final whistle blew on Tuesday night, Buffon threw a primal scream into the night sky. It had been a performance to remind why the 38-year-old has been one of the planet's best for nigh on two decades.

In Mauricio Pochettino's framework, full-backs are of leading importance, and asked to fulfil an onerous workload in both defence and attack. Kieran Trippier is second choice behind Kyle Walker but still trusted by the Argentine, who is happy to rotate in the former Burnley and Manchester City player.

Bayer Leverkusen put Trippier through his defensive paces, especially in the latter stages, but he came through that challenge, having shown off his attacking prowess with some high-grade overlapping. He may be Walker's superior at crossing the ball, and Dele Alli should have done better with one first-half assist.

Centre-back: Victor Lindelof (Benfica)

Benfica badly needed a victory to recover their step in Group B, and grabbed one in winning 2-0 at Dynamo Kiev, with goals in each half from Eduardo Salvio and Franco Cerv. Both were scored on the counterattack as victory was built on a solid defensive performance.

Veteran captain Luisao was the inspiration but Victor Lindelof's contribution was crucial. In the late stages, when it appeared Andriy Yarmolenko was destined to score, Lindelof, the 22-year-old Swedish centre-back, pulled off a heroic block.

Centre-back: Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Another youthful defender making a mark in the Champions League is Jonathan Tah, who looks highly likely to succeed the likes of Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels in Germany's national team. The 20-year-old, who was part of Joachim Low's squad at Euro 2016, showed off both his tackling skills and his obvious comfort in possession against Tottenham.

He survived one hairy moment, when being shaken off by Vincent Janssen, but recovered his poise as Bayer dominated Spurs' forwards for much of the second half.

Real Madrid

Left-back: Marcelo (Real Madrid)

Real Madrid's 5-1 destruction of Legia Warsaw was completed as a matter of routine, with the notable exception of Cristiano Ronaldo failing to get on the scoresheet, but the Polish club felt the brunt of Marcelo's habitual excellence on the overlap from left-back.

When Real have their prey pinned back, Marcelo becomes an auxiliary member of their attack, and after he seized on a Karim Benzema pass, it was his shot that deflected off Tomasz Jodlowiec for Real's second goal.

Midfield: Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)

Leicester made it three wins from three after beating FC Copenhagen 1-0 on Tuesday. In truth, it was a result they had to grind out against the Danish champions, with too many of last season's stars struggling for form.

Not so Danny Drinkwater, who if anything is possibly playing better than he did in their title-winning campaign. All of Leicester's best play came through him, and when calm was needed, his class in possession and vision bought his teammates breathing space. The England midfielder's injection of creativity was the starting point for Riyad Mahrez's winning goal.

Midfield: Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund)

Tuesday saw Julian Weigl score his first professional goal as Dortmund grabbed a vital 2-1 victory against Sporting Lisbon. Ostensibly a defensive midfielder, goals are not exactly part of Weigl's remit, but his finish was expert, even if he said afterwards he "was not really sure what I did."

Aside from the goal, Weigl's elegance in midfield and passing quality was the overriding feature at the Westfalenstadion. He is just 21, but in a team featuring three teenagers in Ousmane Dembele, Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic, showed off burgeoning leadership qualities.

Attacking midfield: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

Another German wunderkind in a pretty good week for the Bundesliga, Joshua Kimmich, 21, is now making his name as a midfielder, having been previously designated as a centre-back by former boss Pep Guardiola.

He also plays full-back for the German national team but Carlo Ancelotti now deploys him as a midfielder with licence to attack, as evidenced by his scoring of Bayern's second goal in a 4-1 defeat of PSV Eindhoven. It was his seventh goal in eight matches.

Mesut Ozil bagged three goals as Arsenal hammered Ludogorets.

Attacking midfield: Mesut Ozil (Arsenal)

With the likes of Kimmich and Weigl around, Mesut Ozil will soon find himself as the veteran in Germany's midfield, but at 28 his recent performances for Arsenal suggest a player reaching for his peak level. Ludogorets were thrashed 6-0 on Wednesday night at the Emirates with Ozil, often criticised for not scoring enough goals, plundering a hat trick, the first of his professional career.

He even managed to grab one with his right foot, usually used for little more than standing, bursting through in the style of Alexis Sanchez to slot home with genuine power, though still with the nonchalance with which he plays the rest of his football.

Attacking midfield: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Before Manchester City kicked off against Barcelona, Pep Guardiola spoke about Lionel Messi. "He's older now," Messi's former mentor said, asked if he had any means of stopping his former charge, but age has not withered Barca's talisman's eye for goal. City were not utterly dominated in possession terms, yet still ended up on the end of a 4-0 thrashing.

Messi's movement is far more rationed than in Guardiola's day but the finishing is just as, if not more, deadly. As soon as Fernandinho slipped to allow Messi to score City's first, the die was cast, even before Claudio Bravo got himself sent off for handball outside the box. Each of Messi's trio was scored with deadly simplicity.

Striker: Vincent Aboubakar (Besiktas)

Probably the week's most exciting match came at the Stadio San Paolo on Wednesday, a pulsating encounter when Napoli were made to pay for their profligacy by Beskitas, as the Turks won 3-2 to record a first victory on Italian soil.

Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar, on loan from Porto, coolly scored his first after a terrible back pass by Jorginho, to make it 2-1. After Manolo Gabbiadini equalised from the penalty spot -- Napoli having missed earlier from the spot through Lorenzo Insigne -- Aboubakar scored the late winner through a true centre-forward's header from a Ricardo Quaresma free kick.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by JOHN BREWIN

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