UEFA Champions League 2011: 5 Best Players from This Week's Action

The UEFA Champions League kicked off this week with five players in particular standing out. A couple of new faces were on show to the whole of Europe for the first time and they delivered magnificently.

With a lot of excitement over new arrivals from England and parts of Eastern Europe, as well as a number of standout fixtures that are surprisingly coming very early in the competition, these five players were able to rise above the shock results and the displays of Europe's elite.

Mario Gotze, Borussia Dortmund

Mario Gotze has seemingly become an overnight sensation due to his rapid rise into the spotlight. The home match against Arsenal at Signal Iduna Park would be Gotze’s first chance to display to world why he's the latest in a long line of exciting German talent.

Gotze, who has been described as “The German Messi,” showed incredible ability and vision to carve open the Arsenal defence on a number of occasions. At the age of 19 he displayed maturity and took creative responsibility in a completely unfamiliar setting.

While neither on the score sheet nor on a winning side, Gotze was able to dazzle prospective buyers with a fantastic display of the potential and ability of one of Europe’s exciting young talents.

Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs was able to show all of Europe exactly why Sir Alex Ferguson continues to renew his contract each year by levelling Manchester United with an outstanding solo goal against Benfica.

If it were not for the confident display by the Benfica goalkeeper Giggs would have been able to double his goal tally and send United away with all three points.

It might be expected that Giggs will play a bigger part in this year's Champions League with United rather than domestically due to the physical demands of the English game over that of Europe.

Moreover, Giggs continues to add valuable leadership and quality to a youthful United side looking for glory.

Alexander Pato

Alex Pato did a fantastic job deputising for the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic by scoring 25 seconds into Milan’s game against Barcelona.

The young Brazilian showed a great burst of pace to leave Sergio Busquets without a hope of stopping an almost inevitable goal. Pato capped off the move by slotting the ball through Victor Valdes’ legs and putting Milan in front.

The performance will do a lot to retain his place in the starting XI upon Ibrahimovic’s return.

Ivan Kelava, Dinamo Zagreb

The Real Madrid attack would have counted for a lot more had it not been for the heroics of Ivan Kelava, the Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper.

The Croat was able to keep the score line down to 1-0 against Madrid following wave after wave of attack, most of which came through the rejuvenated Karim Benzema.

One of the saves of the competition came with a double save, first denying Angel Di Maria and then Mesut Ozil during the first half.

Fernando Torres, Chelsea

Despite the Spaniard’s struggles in front of goal, Fernando Torres was instrumental in helping Chelsea pick up the three points at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Torres picked up two assists as David Luiz and Juan Mata scored the goals, and the striker also had a goal disallowed for offside.

Overall, Torres looked lively in attack, and the two assists will do well for his confidence in upcoming games.