Ben Mattinson: Rising stars in the Champions League Wednesday
Ben Mattinson has been hard at work, diving deep into the UEFA Champions League to identify the rising stars you should be keeping an eye on this week. As Rant Sports’ tactical football expert, Mattinson has meticulously reviewed footage from across Europe, uncovering hidden gems who might not be household names just yet but are on the brink of stardom. These are the players who will soon be in the headlines, with top clubs across Europe lining up to secure their signatures.
When Mattinson speaks about a player, you can bet it’s worth paying attention. For Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League, he’s pinpointed five players Wednesday that could soon be making big-money moves to some of Europe’s elite clubs.
Get ahead of the curve and be the first to know about the rising stars who are about to light up the football world.
Here’s the list of players you need to watch for Wednesday’s action.
Karim Konaté – RB Salzburg, 20, ST
RB Salzburg’s previous strikers include no less than Sadio Mané and Erling Haaland and they just keep managing to find and develop exciting strikers consistently. Karim Konaté will be one of their next big sales and it’s obvious to see why. Konaté is a powerful, pacy striker with so much composure in front of goal with quick reactions and instincts. Despite being small he’s got good body usage and heading ability too.
The Salzburg striker loves to run in behind to stretch the defense, works hard pressing from the front and has killer ball striking.
Adam Aznou – Bayern Munich, 18, LB/LW/RW
Bayern’s breakthrough star this season will be Spanish-born Moroccan international Adam Aznou. At academy level he’s played as both a winger and full-back but it’s most likely that he’ll break into the team as a LB. With such a high technical ability, Aznou overlaps bombing forward or driving into space inside. In both wide and central areas he’s a dangerous threat due to being able to swing in crosses, arrive at the back post, dribble out of tight areas and shoot whenever space opens up for him.
Aznou made his debut last weekend coming off the bench against Union Berlin so it may be time for him to make his Champions League debut soon too.
5 wonder kids to watch in the Champions League Tuesday
Rising Star, Morgan Rogers – Aston Villa, 22, AM
When he signed from Middlesborough, little was made of his transfer to Aston Villa. But now Morgan Rogers has been arguably their best attacker this season. The powerful forward has been a regular at England youth levels and he’s now exploding on the senior stage for Villa.
Playing behind star striker Ollie Watkins, Rogers is such a strong ball-carrier with good upper body strength to shield the ball and ride challenges. His dynamism and threat crashing the box has given Villa a boost to their attack.
Antoni Milambo – Feyenoord, 19, CM
19-year-old midfielder Milambo scored a brace against Benfica in Feyenoord’s 3-1 win away at Benfica last gameweek. This goal made him the second youngest Dutch player to score in back-to-back Champions League games, only bettered by a young Patrick Kluivert back in 1995.
The all-action midfielder is a skillful dribbler, dangerous crashing the box, a competent finisher on both feet, a physical dueller, and instinctive ball-striker.
Senny Mayulu – PSG, 18, AM
PSG’s academy has an excellent track record. Christopher Nkunku, Kingsley Coman, Mike Maignan, Adrien Rabiot all came from their academy in recent years. Senny Mayulu is next up.
Mayulu has such a well-balanced profile. He can play across a wide variety of positions playing so many different roles. As a #10; a box-to-box midfielder; deep-lying-playmaker; playing on either wing or a second-striker. He’s definitely best higher up the pitch.
Looking to watch these rising stars play Wednesday? Here is the schedule.
UEFA Champions League Schedule for Wednesday 6 November
(All games 3 p.m. EST unless otherwise listed)
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa (12:45 p.m.)
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Young Boys (12:45 p.m.)
Sparta Praha vs Brest
Bayern München vs Benfica
Inter vs Arsenal
Feyenoord vs Salzburg
Crvena Zvezda vs Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain vs Atlético de Madrid
Stuttgart vs Atalanta
