Champions League Team of the Week from Matchday 4
Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League featured standout performances from several of European football's most high-profile players as well as impressive displays from some lesser-known talents.
The following slideshow will reveal Bleacher Report's Best XI from the matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we've arranged our team in a 4-3-3 formation.
Players were mostly selected based on their contributions to a result, although one or two made the roster because of an individual performance that simply couldn't be ignored.
Let's get to it.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com unless otherwise noted.
Goalkeeper: Jasmin Handanovic, Maribor
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Even before his late heroics, Jasmin Handanovic had made an impression against Chelsea on Wednesday.
The Maribor goalkeeper made an early save on Didier Drogba and also denied Andre Schurrle and Eden Hazard before stopping the latter's penalty attempt in the 86th minute.
Overall, Handanovic stopped nine Chelsea shots as Maribor recorded a memorable draw at home to the Premier League leaders.
As scores and stats outlet Onefootball pointed out on Twitter, no goalkeeper has made as many saves (17) in the Champions League this term as the 36-year-old.
Honourable mention: Benfica's Julio Cesar, who kept a clean sheet against Monaco.
Right-Back: Lukasz Piszczek, Borussia Dortmund
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Like many of his Borussia Dortmund team-mates, Lukasz Piszczek has been saving his best football for the UEFA Champions League so far this season.
On Tuesday the Poland right-back earned an assist on Marco Reus' opening goal against Galatasaray after playing an accurate through ball to the attacker.
Honourable mention: Shakhtar Donetsk's Darijo Srna, who opened the scoring against BATE Borisov.
Central Defender: Jardel, Benfica
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Monaco attempted 15 shots against Benfica on Tuesday but could only hit the net three times over the course of the 90 minutes.
Luisao and Jardel in particular did exceptionally well to ensure the opposition's forwards tested goalkeeper Julio Cesar as infrequently as possible.
Jardel contributed four tackles on the night and also won all of his aerial duels.
Honourable mention: Borussia Dortmund's Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who scored what proved to be the winner against Galatasaray.
Central Defender: David Alaba, Bayern Munich
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Until his withdrawal in the 81st minute, there was hardly a better player on the Allianz Arena pitch than David Alaba.
The Bayern Munich defender not only completed 85 percent of his passes, but he also took three shots at the AS Roma goal and assisted on Franck Ribery's opener.
Unfortunately, as football journalist Raphael Honigstein pointed out via Twitter, the Austria international seemed to suffer a ligament injury and could be out a few weeks.
Honourable mention: Raphael Varane, who made a vital, last-man tackle to protect Real Madrid's 1-0 lead at home to Liverpool.
Left-Back: Jefferson, Sporting CP
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Sporting CP and Schalke delivered another entertaining match on Wednesday just two weeks after the German side prevailed 4-3 over their Portuguese guests on Matchday 3.
But on this occasion it was Sporting who picked up the three points, helped in no small part by the efforts of left-back Jefferson.
The 26-year-old assisted on Mouhamadou-Naby Sarr's 26th-minute opener and then found the back of the net himself shortly after the restart.
Honourable mention: Basel's Behrang Safari, who tortured the mistake-prone Junior Caicara throughout his side's 4-0 win over Ludogorets.
Midfielder: Heung-min Son, Bayer Leverkusen
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Bayer Leverkusen sit atop Group C after four rounds of play, and Heung-min Son has scored the match-winning goals in two of his side's three victories to date.
The second came on Tuesday against Zenit St. Petersburg when, having been played through by Stefan Kiessling, he beat Yuri Lodygin to complete his brace.
His first goal of the evening had been the result of a neatly worked free-kick that looked as though it had come right off the training ground.
Honourable mention: Paul Pogba, who potted the winner for Juventus at home to Olympiacos.
Midfielder: Andrea Pirlo, Juventus
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Andrea Pirlo marked his 100th Champions League appearance with a memorable free-kick goal on Wednesday.
Just 21 minutes had ticked off the clock when the Italy midfielder curled his effort beyond the reach of Olympiacos goalkeeper Roberto, and over the course of the 90 minutes he also touched the ball a match-high 105 times while completing an impressive 91 percent of his passes.
After watching Pirlo's goal, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl took to Twitter to ask whether the 35-year-old was the world's best free-kick taker.
Honourable mention: Fabian Frei, who picked up a pair of assists in Basel's 4-0 destruction of Ludogorets.
Midfielder: Koke, Atletico Madrid
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Koke's goal and trio of assists made him the star of Matchday 3, as his Atletico Madrid side trounced Malmo 5-0 in the Spanish capital.
They could only post a 2-0 victory in the return match in Sweden, but once again it was the 22-year-old providing the finish—his backheeled flick beating goalkeeper Robin Olsen.
Overall, Koke was once again the best player on his team and also contributed three tackles as Atletico took top spot in Group A.
Honourable mention: Bibras Natkho, who assisted on both CSKA Moscow goals in the Russian outfit's 2-1 win away to Manchester City on Wednesday.
Forward: Seydou Doumbia, CSKA Moscow
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Manchester City will be glad to see the back of Seydou Doumbia.
On Matchday 3 the former Ivory Coast international scored once and drew a penalty after coming on at the interval, and on Wednesday he bagged a brace as CSKA Moscow beat the Premier League champions 2-1 at Etihad Stadium.
As statistician OptaJoe revealed on Twitter, the 26-year-old has scored five of his 10 Champions League goals against City.
Honourable mention: Aleksandar Mitrovic, who menaced the Arsenal defense (and scored the eventual equaliser) after coming on as a substitute for Anderlecht.
Forward: Lionel Messi, Barcelona
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Lionel Messi needed a brace to pull level with all-time leading Champions League goalscorer Raul, and he accomplished the feat on Wednesday against Ajax.
The Argentine maestro's 70th goal in European football's premier club competition came in the 36th minute, when he scored with a rare header from Marc Bartra's cross.
Then, with 14 minutes remaining in Amsterdam, he got his record-tying 71st following a neat bit of interplay involving Pedro.
Honourable mention: Karim Benzema, who scored the only goal in Real Madrid's Tuesday victory at home to Liverpool.
Forward: Yacine Brahimi, Porto
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It took 55 minutes for Porto to finally break through against Athletic Bilbao, and by then Jackson Martinez had already missed a penalty.
But 10 minutes after the restart the Colombia forward found the back of the net following some excellent work out wide by Yacine Brahimi, who then scored Porto's second midway through the second half.
Honourable mention: Luiz Adriano, who notched a hat-trick in Shakhtar Donetsk's 5-0 win over BATE Borisov.
