Ivan Herrera 
Welcome to the 2023-2024 UCL Group Stage Rankings!
For each slate, we will go position by position and rank our favorite plays. You will see our core plays, pivots, and value plays at each position in the rankings. After the rankings, a brief synopsis will help you build your lineups. Lastly, you will find my Best Bets for the top bets of the week.
If you are new to soccer DFS, starting lineups don’t get released until an hour before lock, so stay locked into the Discord for any pivots.
DFS Soccer: Fwd/Mid
| Core | Pivots | Value |
| Kylian Mbappe (PSG) $12,000/$23 | Ciro Immobile (LAZ) $7,600/$17 | Yankuba Minteh (FEY) $6,800/$10 |
| Erling Haaland (MCI) $11,800/$24 | Mehdi Taremi (POR) $8,700/$20 | Michel-Ange Balikwisha (AWP) $6,500/$14 |
| Robert Lewandowski (BAR) $11,400/$22 | Ousmane Dembele (PSG) $10,200/$21 | Matt O’Riley (CEL) $3,700/$15 |
| Calvin Stengs (FEY) $8,400/$17 | Donyell Malen (BVB) $6,000/$13 | Vincent Jansen (AWP) $6,100/$13 |
| Luis Alberto (LAZ) $8,800/$14 | Bernardo Silva (MCI) $6,700/$16 | Yang Hyun-Jun (CEL) $3,800/$8 |
| Julian Brandt (BVB) $7,200/$16 | Phil Foden (MCI) $8,200/$20 | Toni Martinez (POR) $5,500/$16 |
| Antoine Griezmann (ATL) $9,300/$19 | Joao Felix (BAR) $8,500/$19 | Oleksii Kashchuk (SHK) $3,100/$13 |
| Dmytro Kryskiv (SHK) $3,100/$12 |
DFS Soccer: Def
| Core | Pivots | Value |
| Lutsharel Geertruida (FEY) $4,600/$14 | Alex Balde (BAR) $4,900/$12 | Ruben Dias (MCI) $3,300/$11 |
| Achraf Hakimi (PSG) $6,700/$13 | Kyle Walker (MCI) $3,500/$8 | Andreas Christensen (BAR) $3,600/$11 |
| Joao Mario (POR) $3,800/$9 | Josko Gvardiol (MCI) $3,900/$9 | Greg Taylor (CEL) $3,900/$9 |
| Quilindschy Hartman (FEY) $5,400/$9 | Marius Wolf (BVB) $9 (FD only Defender) |
DFS Soccer: Goalkeeper
| Core | Pivot | Value |
| Ederson (MCI) $6,000/$14 | Timon Wellenreuther (FEY) $5,600/$12 | Artur Rudko (SHK) $4,000/$5 |
| Marc-Andre ter Stegen (BAR) $5,900/$13 | Jan Oblak (ATL) $4,900/$10 | Diogo Costa (POR) $5,400/$10 |
Synopsis:
The first UCL slate features what might be the best crop of forwards in the world. Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Robert Lewandowski are all in action. They are all appropriately priced above 11K on DraftKings, which makes lineups difficult to build because all three are capable of breaking a slate. On FanDuel, they are not as expensive, so lineup building is slightly easier using one of the three.
Luckily, we can find some value in being able to build potential takedown lineups. Teams like Porto, Shakhtar, and Dortmund have solid attacking options at discounted prices that fit in with the top three guys. PSG vs. BVB and Porto vs. Shakhtar are the two games that should have the most back-and-forth action.
On the defense side, I wrote down the cheapest CB for both City and Barcelona. They are basically guaranteed three points on DK and five on FD for the clean sheet bonuses. I won’t be playing both in the same lineup, as I think the attacking potential of the players listed in the “core” and “pivot” sections pairs well with them.
The goalkeeper options are pretty cut and dry for the first UCL Group Stage slate. Ederson and ter Stegen are going up against much weaker sides that’ll struggle to do any damage to them. In contests like Cash, SE, and 3Max, I think it’ll be difficult to go to any other keeper. My favorite pivots off of them are Oblak and Wellenreuther, as they are both good keepers who should see a handful of shots on goal, so they’ll finish with a couple of saves.
Drago’s Best Bets:
(Bets include UCL Qualifying games that are not on the DraftKings DFS slate)
- Feyenoord ML
- PSG vs Dortmund over 2.5 Total Goals
- Barcelona -1.5
- Manchester City -2.5
Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Ivan (idrago15) will be there answering questions all day and all night! Follow Ivan on Twitter @idragol15 and be sure to be on the lookout for future articles at https://windailysports.com/soccer/
