FIFA World Cup 2018: Top 5 fantasy players from Round 1

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Bengaluru, June 21: Apart from all the buzz in the stadium and around, another way of excellent fan engagement is Fantasy Football and the FIFA World Cup offers no less excitement.

FIXTURES | POINTS TABLE

With all 32 teams finishing their first round of fixtures, here are top 5 players who excelled in the fantasy department of the World Cup.

1) Cristiano Ronaldo vs Spain (16 points)

There is absolutely no stopping this man to be on any sheet of any record. It won’t be false to say that the Portuguese captain single-handedly won a point for his team with a fine hat-trick. Cristiano Ronaldo equalled Ferenc Puskas’ record of 3rd most international goals with 84 goals and became the only player to score a hat-trick against Spain.

2) Denis Cherysev vs Saudi Arabia (13 points)

Agony for someone is ecstasy for another. Alan Dzagoev was subbed off with a hamstring injury that potentially ended his World Cup campaign, but his substitute made such a mark that he was awarded a start in Russia’s second game. Denis Cheryshev came off the bench to score a brace and seal the biggest victory by the host nation in the opening game for 84 years. Russia kept up the tradition of a host team not losing the opening fixture.

3) Hannes Halldorsson vs Argentina (9 points)

The smallest nation to qualify for World Cup created history by snatching an unlikely point against heavyweights Argentina. At the heart of it was Iceland goal-keeper Hannes Halldorsson who saved a penalty from Lionel Messi that could have been the winner for the 2014 finalists. The part-time filmmaker also resisted 11 shots from Messi to deny him a scoring opportunity.

4) Romelu Lukaku vs Panama (10 points)

Although Harry Kane too scored a brace in England’s 2-1 win over Tunisia, Romelu Lukaku’s brace came in a much more complete performance by Belgium’s 3-0 win over Panama. Also, Lukaku’s value for money on his brace was more than that of Harry Kane for which he edges past the Englishman.

5) Aleksander Kolarov vs Costa Rica (12 points)

The Serbian defender was also tied on points with Jose Gimenez. But again, a sublime free-kick was what made all the difference. The AS Roma full back converted a set piece to earn Serbia the three points and also kept a clean sheet to be on this list.