Champions League: Team of Matchday 2

Matchday 2 is complete in the UEFA Champions League after all 32 teams took part in group games Tuesday and Wednesday.

Over the course of two days of action, we saw plenty of goals and drama, and now we're highlighting the best individual performances of the lot.

In picking our team of the week, we've given special consideration to players who helped their teams win, whether by scoring goals or defending resolutely. In the end, this is a subjective list, but we tried to pick the players who made the most significant impact on their matches.

With that in mind, let's get to the selections.

Goalkeeper

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart saved a penalty and repeatedly kept Borussia Monchengladbach at bay. The Germans eventually broke through, but Hart's brilliance kept City in the game long enough for the Premier League side to win 2-1.

You suspected it was going to be Hart's night when he saved Raffael's penalty in the 19th minute, but the English stopper only improved from there. He denied Raffael a few more times before the break with a string of good saves and finished the night with five stops.

"We didn't play well today," Hart told BBC Sport. "We were disjointed as we had been in the last few games. But we deserved to win; we had some really good chances. It may have come late, but Sergio Aguero is a cool guy, and he will score."

Hart added: "For the penalty, no stone is unturned. I've seen a lot of penalties from a lot of players—we have good guys in the analysis department."

Defenders

Jon Super/Associated Press

Right-back Serge Aurier scored a goal and notched an assist in his Champions League debut as Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk in Group A. The Ivorian also won six aerial duels, completed seven tackles and recorded four clearances, per WhoScored.com.

Across the formation, we give the nod to Filip Mladenovic of BATE Borisov. It's not everyday a full-back from a Belarusian club scores twice in the Champions League group stage, so even though one of Mladenovic's goals was down to a goalkeeping error, he earns his spot in our side.

At centre-back, we've gone for the combination of Bayer Leverkusen's Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Manchester United's Chris Smalling. Both players made key contributions at both ends, scoring a goal apiece and leading their teams with stout defensive performances.

Midfielders

Steven Governo/Associated Press

Our midfield is heavy on attacking creativity and light on defensive graft. So what? This team won't actually play a real match, so we've opted for entertainment value. 

On Tuesday, Yacine Brahimi sparkled as Porto defeated Chelsea 2-1. The Algerian attacking midfielder flashed his considerable skills frequently, tearing the visitors apart with creativity and technical brilliance.

On Wednesday, Manchester United's Juan Mata had his turn. The Spaniard scored from the penalty spot, set up Chris Smalling's winner with a brilliant flick and generally ran the show for the Red Devils.

Our third and final midfield spot goes to Thiago Alcantara, who provided not one, not two, but three assists in Bayern Munich's 5-0 romp over Dinamo Zagreb. Perhaps more importantly for manager Pep Guardiola, Alcantara looked a different player to the one that was substituted at half-time against Wolfsburg recently in the Bundesliga.

Forwards

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

Up top, we were spoiled for choices this week.

On Wednesday, Cristiano Ronaldo netted twice as Real Madrid won 2-0 at Malmo The first was his 500th strike as a professional, and the second was his 323rd for Real Madrid, which equaled Raul for the club's all-time record. That's not to say this is just a lifetime achievement award. Ronaldo, as ever, was lethal in front of goal and deserves his place on Wednesday's merits.

If any striker is in better form than Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, we'd like to know who that is. The Poland international scored three more goals Tuesday to take his total to 10 in his last three games. Awarding a rating of 9/10, Mark Lovell of ESPN FC wrote: "Only a nine: Tens must stay reserved for five-goals-in-nine-minute displays. It seemed almost inevitable that Lewandowski would score, such is his confidence in front of goal and the quality of opposition."

For our third and final slot in the front line, we've gone with a second Bayern attacker: Douglas Costa. The Brazilian scored a goal, assisted another and was prominently involved in a third. His dazzling work on the left will have Bayern fans forgetting the name Franck Ribery.

Full Team and Your Say

Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press

Here's a look at our full team:

Joe Hart; Serge Aurier, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Chris Smalling, Filip Mladenovic; Yacine Brahimi, Juan Mata, Thiago Alcantara; Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Douglas Costa

Who would make your team? Let us know in the comments below.