Bundesliga
Fantasy Team of the Season
Top goalscorer Robert Lewandowski leads the way once again but Player of the Season Christopher Nkunku finished not far behind and Freiburg provided the most players in the Bundesliga Fantasy Team of the Season.
Here’s the 11 players who would’ve got you the most points in the 2021/22 season…
>> See how your Fantasy team got on!
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Goalkeeper
Points: 211
Final value: 10M
The table is rarely a good indicator of the goalkeeper you want in Fantasy, given four of the best six for points played for teams in the bottom half. And it was tight to claim the No.1 jersey in this team, with only seven points separating the top four, but Hradecky just comes out ahead of Mark Flekken, Manuel Riemann and Yann Sommer. The Leverkusen captain made the third-most saves in the division, at a rate of 73 per cent (second to Flekken) and eight kept clean sheets to take top spot.
Club: Mainz
Position: Defender
Points: 224
Final value: 8.2M
For many managers, it was a choice of Mainz full-backs between Widmer and Aaron Martin. Although the latter cost substantially less, the Swiss right-back produced far more points and is still the cheapest player in this XI. The defender got five goals and four assists, but his 30 points for clean sheets was also key. However, he was one of those players you only wanted when playing at home. Mainz had the best home defensive record in the division, conceding only 11 times in 17 games, but one of the worst on the road with 34 conceded.
Club: Freiburg
Position: Defender
Points: 265
Final value: 10.9M
Anyone who got in early with Schlotterbeck was laughing this season. The first of three Freiburg players in the Team of the Season, he only climbed to a value of just 10.9M but produced the best haul of any defender. Almost half of his 265 points came from challenges won, where he had the second-best success rate in the division (65 per cent) and also scored four times. Teammate Philipp Lienhart was the only defender in the Bundesliga to get more. It all earnt him a Germany cap and move to Borussia Dortmund for next season
Watch: Rising star Schlotterbeck
Club: Freiburg
Position: Defender
Points: 251
Final value: 13.9M
As the only outfield player in the Bundesliga not to miss a single minute, you were always on for points with Günter. The Freiburg captain was his team’s top provider with nine assists and also had 65 passes to a shot (sixth most in the division), whether he was at left-back or wing-back. Like Freiburg in general, he enjoyed a consistently good campaign, rewarding coach Christian Streich and Fantasy managers for backing him.
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Position: Midfielder
Points: 284
Final value: 16.3M
Hofmann’s place in this team is quite impressive, given he missed eight games this season. It means that when he did play, he was excellent – even in a disappointing Gladbach team. He was their top scorer with 12 – double his previous PB for a Bundesliga campaign – and also set up another five. Add in 69 points for shots and 62 for passes to a shot, the Germany international ended with the fifth-best points-per-game return in Fantasy.
Club: RB Leipzig
Position: Midfielder
Points: 410
Final value: 20.1M
You know you’ve done something special if you beat Lewandowski to the Player of the Season award. The Frenchman scored 20 and got 13 assists as Leipzig recovered from a poor start to motor into the top four, as well as reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals and DFB Cup final. He was the only player besides Lewandowski to get over 400 points, making him an absolute must. Although less than a third of managers ended the season with him in their squads… To the 70 per cent that didn’t, don’t make that mistake again next season!
Watch: Nkunku, Leipzig’s superstar
Club: Freiburg
Position: Midfielder
Points: 289
Final value: 17.5M
One trick that managers often look to use in Fantasy for a consistent haul of points is pick set-piece takers. As the man charged with delivery in the Bundesliga’s best team from dead balls, Grifo was the one you wanted. He got nine goals and seven assists, while the Italy international delivered the ball leading to a goal from a set piece a league-high 18 times. Joshua Kimmich may have taken that title if not for missing several games in the first half of the season, but persistence with Grifo paid off in the end.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Midfielder
Points: 283
Final value: 19M
Another example of where basing picks off a team’s position in the table is not the thing to do. Frankfurt finished the season in 13th place, partly after putting their eggs into a UEFA Europa League-winning basket, but Kostic remained consistent in an indifferent Bundesliga campaign. He got nine assists, with a league-best eight crosses leading to goals, while the Europa League Player of the Season also had the most passes to a shot in the division. There’s perhaps a no more result-proof player in Fantasy.
Watch: Analysing Kostic and Frankfurt
Club: Cologne
Position: Forward
Points: 297
Final value: 11.9M
Hands up if you genuinely expected Modeste to score 20 goals this season? We’ll take the lottery numbers from you if you did. The 34-year-old looked to have been written off at Cologne but appeared reborn under Steffen Baumgart. Only Lewandowski mustered up more shots on goal than the Frenchman and he ended up costing almost 8M less than Erling Haaland for nine points more. Can he and the Billy Goats repeat the trick next season?
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forward
Points: 317
Final value: 21M
The third-best player in Fantasy, Müller has topped the Bundesliga assist chart for the third straight season. He ended on 18, but 13 of them came in a record-setting Hinrunde. Add in the eight goals he scored himself and the Raumdeuter was always going to produce a healthy haul. The problem was always whether you could get him into your team alongside Lewandowski and another forward.
Watch: Analysis of tireless Thomas Müller
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forwardx
Points: 448
Final value: 25.8M
No surprise to see the Bayern goalscorer supreme finished with the most Fantasy points yet again. He ended on 35 goals this year – the first player ever to scored 30+ in three consecutive seasons and be top scorer five campaigns on the spin – and also led the way by some distance for shots (158). His 140 points for shots alone would’ve placed him not far outside the league’s top 100 Fantasy players. There’s a reason he’s the most expensive but worth every penny.
Watch: All 35 of Lewandowski’s goals this season