Nine Best Players From Champions League Last 16 First Legs

The buildup to the Champions League round of 16 had become a Premier League procession. England’s immensely wealthy top flight boasted an unprecedented six teams at this stage of the competition after dominating the league phase.

“The Premier League is a great league,” Barcelona boss Hansi Flick gushed, echoing a sentiment preached by many this season. “For me it is the best league in the world. They have strong teams and a lot of money to make the right decisions.”

Yet, the entire English contingent collected fewer wins between them than Norway’s representatives across the eight ties played out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The moral panic this sequence of results has inspired is typically overblown, but nothing new. Several years ago, the legendary former Juventus midfielder Michel Platini captured the mid-season dip so often suffered by Premier League clubs with the iconic line: “The English are like lions in the autumn but like lambs in the spring.”

The rest of Europe produced a pack of wolves across this week’s round of matches.

7. Sondre Brunstad Fet, Pedro Porro

Sondre Brunstad Fet with his trophy. — Sondre Brunstad Fet was player of the match for Bodø/Glimt. | Carl Recine-UEFA/UEFA/Getty Images

Rating: 8.6

“It’s a really good feeling,” Sondre Brunstad Fet breathlessly told UEFA on Wednesday night, “and I’m quite happy with myself.” He had every right to be.

Bodø/Glimt’s roving midfielder converted the penalty for his side’s opening goal in a 3–0 blitz of Sporting CP, carving another chapter in this fairytale run for the Norwegian upstarts. Fet warned that it would be a “a difficult game in Lisbon” but it surely won’t be as tough as the chastening night Tottenham Hotspur suffered at the hands of Atlético Madrid.

Despite playing in the backline of a side which shipped five goals in the Spanish capital, Pedro Porro managed to salvage some individual pride with a goal and an assist. How consolatory those consolation goals were is hard to say.

6. Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann scoring. — Antoine Griezmann saved his sympathy for after the final whistle. | Manu Reino/DeFodi Images/Getty Images

Rating: 8.7

When Antoine Griezmann tiptoes around the pitch like he did on Tuesday night, orchestrating a Champions League knockout tie from his velvety throne, it’s hard to imagine that he was ever considering leaving the European stage later this month.

Fortunately for Atlético fans and those neutrals who enjoy the Frenchman’s deft left foot, Griezmann is set to stay for the remainder before Orlando enjoy his magic.

5. Ugurcan Cakir, Thibaut Courtois

Thibaut Courtois now has more Champions League assists this season than some of Europe's most creative players. pic.twitter.com/dsGUz8obRq
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) March 11, 2026

Rating: 8.8

Across a round of fixtures which saw several goalkeepers widely pilloried, Galatasaray’s Ugurcan Çakir and Real Madrid custodian Thibaut Courtois defended the gloved community valiantly.

Liverpool’s reverse in Istanbul was one of the better displays from a Premier League sides this week. Arne Slot’s defending champions rattled off 15 shots, six of which were beaten away by an in-form Çakir.

Courtois not only conspired to deny the few efforts Manchester City managed to fire his way but also delivered the raking cross-field pass for Federico Valverde which set the tone for Madrid’s rampant 3–0 win.

4. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia shushing. — Khvicha Kvaratskhelia came off the bench to wreak havoc against Chelsea. | Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

Rating: 8.9

The man dubbed Kvaradona by Napoli fans was more Kvaratsolskjær on Wednesday night.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia emerged off the bench for the final half-hour of Paris Saint-Germain’s home tie against Chelsea while the score was level at 2–2. The Georgian super sub teed up Vitinha who lobbed the hosts in front before scoring twice himself to take the tie almost entirely out of Chelsea’s hands.

Liam Rosenior was left to lament after the match how there aren’t many players like “Kvara” in the Premier League. There aren’t many anywhere.

3. Julian Alvarez

Rating: 9.2

Ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Spurs, Atlético’s waning talisman Julián Alvarez had only scored two home goals in four months. He needed 40 minutes to rack up a brace at a throbbing Metropolitano.

Playing a backline as accommodating as Tottenham’s will always help any out-of-form striker but this was a cathartic night for the Argentine forward who has come under immense scrutiny in recent weeks.

“I see him very happy, content,” Diego Simeone beamed. After a performance like that, why wouldn’t he?”

2. Michael Olise

Rating: 9.6

Such was the devastating level of Michael Olise’s performance against Atalanta, littered with two more goals and an assist during a prolific wider campaign, it inspired talk of the Bayern Munich forward winning the Ballon d’Or.

“I’m not focusing on that,” Olise sniffed with a typical shrug. “The season is still long. If it happens, it would be nice. But first, the trophies.”

1. Federico Valverde

Uno. Dos. Tres. Federico Valverde. pic.twitter.com/bdXuCee9y3
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) March 11, 2026

Rating: 9.7

Every game Federico Valverde plays is followed by a stern debrief from his wife, Mina. “She is on another level! She knows the game very well, and she is Argentinian, and you know how they are,” he once told the Players’ Tribune. “Whatever I do, it’s never enough.”

Surely, Valverde’s hat-trick against Manchester City must have satisfied his toughest critics.

Nine Best Players From Champions League Last 16 First Legs—Ranked