By Sam Tighe, World Football Tactics Lead Writer Feb 20, 2014

We saw four incredible games on Tuesday and Wednesday, as Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain all emerged victorious and took genuine advantages back to their home grounds.

Which individuals impressed the most? Read on to find out!

• GK: Thibaut Courtois, Atletico Madrid

With 20 minutes gone, Thibaut Courtois was the only reason AC Milan weren't 2-0 up against Atletico Madrid at the San Siro.

He tipped Kaka's early shot onto the bar and pushed Andrea Poli's deft header onto the post, stemming the flow of the Rossoneri attack and defying the home crowd.

Incredible elasticity and athleticism.

• RB: Dani Alves, Barcelona

Dani Alves was phenomenal against Manchester City, providing a constant presence on the right flank and driving Aleksandar Kolarov back.

He showed good restraint after picking up an early yellow card and began exerting his influence more and more following Martin Demichelis' red.

He scored the second goal to give Barcelona a big lead going into the second leg.

• CB: Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid

They were under pressure early on, but Atletico Madrid did what they do best on Wednesday night at the San Siro, grinding out a result and claiming a clean sheet.

Diego Godin was key to this, standing firm in central defence as he has done all season long for Los Colchoneros. He was dominant in the air, tidy in his passing and assured in his dealing with punts up to Milan's front line.

• CB: Gerard Pique, Barcelona

Gerard Pique may divide opinion at times, but there's no question he's stepped up this season when it comes to the big, big games for Barcelona.

He was spotless on Tuesday night at the Etihad Stadium, keeping Alvaro Negredo on a leash all night and looking physically up to the task.

A very good showing, and a far-cry from the last time we saw him in the Champions League knockout stages.

• LB: Maxwell, Paris Saint-Germain

Maxwell is the least flashy player in our Team of the Week, but he did a good job at the Bay Arena against a tricky opponent in Sidney Sam.

Renowned for his searing pace, the German winger was nullified easily by the Brazilian, who played a reserved role on the left to keep him in check.

• DM: Philipp Lahm, Bayern Munich

Philipp Lahm was probably the best right-back on show, but Dani Alves' great display earned a spot and the German did play 45 minutes in midfield.

On the right, he was fantastic, bombing forward and creating sustained pressure by never relinquishing the ball. In midfield, he opportunistically overloaded key areas and kept the ball rolling very well.

• CM: Blaise Matuidi, Paris Saint-Germain

Blaise Matuidi put on a strong showing at the Bay Arena on Tuesday night and opened the scoring for Paris Saint-Germain.

Simon Rolfes failed to follow the Frenchman's mazy run and it produced a clear chance on goal. He swept it home with ease, then held the ball up later in the half to set up Zlatan Ibrahimovic's golazo.

An all-action, box-to-box performance.

• CM: Toni Kroos, Bayern Munich

"Death by passing"—that's what B/R's Alex Dimond called it while on location at the Emirates.

Toni Kroos monopolised the ball for long periods against Arsenal, scored the opening goal with a sumptuous first-time strike and hit the post late on with another.

As a flatter CM in Pep Guardiola's 4-3-3/4-1-3-1, he was remarkably good.

• AMC: Adel Taarabt, Milan

If you never thought you'd see the day Adel Taarabt made a UEFA Champions League Team of the Week, fair enough.

We never thought it would happen, either.

He's edged out Kaka here in a close contest for the attacking midfield position in our diamond, with his excellent footwork and poise on the ball prevalent throughout.

• ST: Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid

Diego Costa didn't pull up any trees at the San Siro, but he was more clinical than opposite number Mario Balotelli (who wasted chance after chance).

The Atletico Madrid star managed to score the winner in a tight affair and looked menacing in and around the box throughout.

He also benefits from Lionel Messi's poor game at Manchester City, Mario Mandzukic's quiet showing against Arsenal and Yaya Sanogo's struggles in the second half.

• ST: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paris Saint-Germain

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is in the form of his life.

He's continually stepping up in the UEFA Champions League to defy criticism of the past, and his two goals at the Bay Arena were his ninth and 10th of the competition already.

One, in particular, was an absolute belter into the roof of the net.

• Bench

Manager: Laurent Blanc

GK: Manuel Neuer, Bayern Munich

CB: Thiago Silva, PSG

FB: Jordi Alba, Barcelona

CM: Marco Verratti, PSG

CM: Thiago Alcantara, Bayern Munich

AMC: David Silva, Manchester City
CF: Lionel Messi, Barcelona.

Soure : B/R stats from whoscored.com.

I posted it before, and it was removed for no reason...

Please FR tell me why as mods dont seem to know much about this issue.

@Marcus, why do you always talk about arsenal like you know stuff about the club ? From what you're saying right there, you don't know SH*T about Ozil at arsenal, about what wenger said, or about how fans feel about Ozil. Now try talking about things you KNOW about YOUR club.

@Dynastian, are you blaming wenger for asking Ozil to defend against Bayern when we were 10 ????? Is it too much to ask from Ozil you think ? Maybe Wenger should have taken him off instead ?

The press and retarded fans like iraqimaestro are the ONLY people bashing Ozil, and when I say the press I'm talking about **** **** **** papers like the Sun or Metro or other garbage of the genre. Wenger has ALL the faith in the world in Ozil, and he doesn't need any advice on how to manage him from the people on this forum who don't even watch our games and base their judgement on him from ONE GAME against bayern when we played with 10 and from the highlights on Footyroom.

And one last thing, Ozil left Madrid because he wanted to be trusted and he wanted to play. And Wenger is giving him all the trust and all the playing time he's ever wanted. So madrid fans who say he should be rested, maybe if you hadn't rested him every f*cking game then maybe he wouldn't have left your club. So stop it with your nonsense already.

@KingHenry

You just can't make a point without running your mouth off with every swear word there is, can you?

I did not blame Wenger for asking Ozil to defend when down to 10 against Bayern. I clearly stated that Ozil did not have a poor game, as the team itself was poor. He earned the penalty, and due to a bad run-up and a weak shot, he missed it. I was actually defending his performance, because I felt he was alienated in LM, a position he had not previously played.

I'm blaming Wenger for not understanding that Ozil needs rests more often, and for not resting him up for these massive games against Bayern and Liverpool and the likes of them. Wenger also shouldn't expect Ozil to be defending from the AM position. That's not his job. If Wenger was a bit smarter, he'd spend some more money on a better DM and striker, so that Ozil has to do less defending, and the striker actually makes runs to lash onto his through balls.

You're accusing me of not watching Arsenal games and making judgments on Wenger, but did you ever watch Ozil at Real Madrid? Of course not. He was rested because he is physically incapable of playing 90+ minutes and perform to his best the following game. As you can easily see now that he is playing for Arsenal. Mou rested him because he wanted Ozil to be at his best. Mou only let Ozil play 90 minutes in big games (Bayern, Barcelona, Man United, etc.). He left only after it was made visible that Bale would be preferred over him, and Isco was brought in as his "replacement". He knew he would have to compete for playing time, and when given the offer to leave, he took his chance and left. So no, you should stop muttering on about your nonsense, because all you seem to do when arguing with someone is offend them and their club/players, and making hypocritical claims. Offending Marcus, myself, Real Madrid, and Chelsea will not win you debates.

^ Di Maria was prefered to him by Ancelotti, thats why he left.

@Tiki

More or less, yeah. There were other players who had a better attitude and showed more promise than Ozil, so Ancelotti decided to let Ozil go when he was asked to choose between di Maria and Ozil. He said it himself, that he believes di Maria has a better work-rate and a superior mentality to Ozil's, and that's why di Maria is excelling now amidst a ton of competition, and Ozil was let go.

@kinghenry

I was going to reply , but then I thought ... you are angry and this will make you even more angry . For sake of good relationship on the forum , I will leave this topic :))

Ozil is just having periods a bit more difficult, but it's not normal and this is the cycle of football. Every player cannot be at 100% everytime. His form will bounce back and he will impress us more than we think.