Worst Champions League Team of the Season: Maguire and Memphis lead the way

FT Desk

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 6 min read

The 2021/22 Champions League will be remembered for some glorious performances from the world’s leading footballers as Real Madrid won a record 14th title thanks to a 1-0 win over Liverpool in Paris' Stade de France.

Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and Kylian Mbappe were among those to thrill supporters across the world with their incredible exploits, but the competition has not been one to remember for every player who has taken part.

Football Transfers selects its flop XI from the Champions League this season, with an emphasis on bigger-name players who failed to deliver.

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Geronimo Rulli (Villarreal)

Rulli is a little unfortunate to make this side given that Villarreal were expected to get nowhere near the semi-finals of the competition, yet it cannot be ignored the role he played in his side unravelling against Liverpool.

Having lost the first leg 2-0, Villarreal seemed to have the Reds on the ropes in the return match in Spain only for Rulli to make two errors that cost his team goals. Liverpool ended up winning 3-2 on the night and tie 5-2, and the apparently emphatic nature of the result owed much to the goalkeeper.

PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is fortunate to escape this spot for a similar tie-changing mistake against Real Madrid, but the controversial nature of the goal has saved him in this case.

Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund)

In truth, all of Dortmund’s backline could have been selected in this worst XI as they conceded a whopping 11 goals in their six games.

Meunier slots into this side after a catastrophic defensive performance for BVB as they were knocked out in the group stage before being skittled out in the Europa League as they conceded six to Scottish side Rangers.

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Harry Maguire (Man Utd)

Harry Maguire endured a disastrous season from an individual point of view, being guilty of a catalogue of errors at home and abroad.

In the Champions League, Maguire was directly responsible for three of the goals Man Utd conceded in the group stages.

These were Duvan Zapata and Merih Demiral’s strikes for Atalanta and Nicolas Ngamaleu’s goal in the defeat to Young Boys.

Things go no better in the knockout stages as Man Utd were swiftly eliminated by a comparatively weak Atletico Madrid side.

Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)

When it comes to teams, Borussia Dortmund were probably the biggest flops of the Champions League group stages.

Failing to qualify in a rather modest group consisting of Ajax, Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas was a huge failure.

The main reason for only coming third was their leaky defence, with Mats Hummels guilty of numerous mistakes.

Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich)

Davies is one of the world’s top full-backs but has had a difficult season because of injury and health issues.

Bayern gambled on him against Villarreal, and it was a bet that failed to pay off. In the first leg, he was clearly unfit and had a nightmare match, then in the return match he came on for Lucas Hernandez, with the Spaniards scoring moments later.

A competition to forget and quickly move on from for the Canada star.

Franck Kessie (AC Milan)

Franck Kessie is apparently bound for Barcelona this summer, but the Catalan side will not have signed him off the back of his Champions League performances as Milan embarrassingly exited with just a single point from six games.

He had been offered the platform to prove his worth to the cream of the continent but he failed dismally.

He was one of the key reasons Milan exited from Europe. Although he was unlucky to an extent, he stupidly got himself sent off for two yellows at home to Atletico Madrid. That red card cost Milan the win and ultimately saw the Rossoneri go out. He was also overrun in both losses to Liverpool.

Weston McKennie (Juventus)

Juventus’ central midfield has been a big problem for years, ever since the great trio of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba left the club between 2015 and 2016.

This was evident during what was a disastrous Serie A season for Juventus as they finished fourth. The Bianconeri fared little better in Europe and were eliminated in the last-16 by Villarreal.

They were also humiliatingly thumped 4-0 at Chelsea in the group stages to show just how big the gap is between them and Europe’s elite. McKennie was particularly bad in that game, with a horrific clearance leading Chelsea’s fourth goal.

Lautaro Martinez (Inter)

Lautaro Martinez hit the 25-goal mark for Inter this season, but the campaign was by no means an overwhelming success for the Inter star.

The Champions League proved to be a difficult competition for the Argentine attacker, who went seven games scoreless before finding the net in a shock 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield. However, his side still crashed out of the competition, with his effort too little, too late.

Lautaro is undoubtedly a top forward but he needs to improve his finishing and he was wasteful in the two defeats to group winners Real Madrid.

Neymar (PSG)

Neymar’s mission when he moved to PSG in 2017 was to win the Champions League with the club but a last-16 exit to Real Madrid left them as far away from ever from that target.

The Brazilian did manage two assists in that tie before his team’s defence disintegrated in an embarrassing fashion, but this was also the first season in which he played that he failed to score a single goal in the competition.

Memphis Depay (Barcelona)

Having flopped earlier in his career with Manchester United, there were always doubts whether Memphis Depay was good enough to really make it at an elite club.

Since his summer 2021 transfer to Barcelona from Lyon, it seems that he isn’t.

Zero goals and zero assists in six Champions League games tells its own story as Barca were knocked out in the group stages.

He will be lucky to get another chance.

Jack Grealish (Man City)

For a £100 million signing, Jack Grealish has been sorely disappointing for Manchester City. For that type of money, a player should be able to make the difference in any given game.

Instead, the England attacker found himself kicking his heels on the bench more often than not and did not start a single game in the knockout stage. When he came on against Real Madrid, he failed to bury a tie that should have been won and City experienced a remarkable defeat.

After a goal and an assist on his Champions League debut, he was reduced to the role of cheerleader for Pep Guardiola’s side.