Mehdi Benatia – Centre-Half – Bayern Munich

Mehdi Benatia became the most expensive African defender in history, when the German champions bought him for a whopping thirty-nine million US dollars last August. Pep Guardiola saw the technically adept centre-half as one of the final pieces necessary to mount a European title challenge. The Bavarians will face off against Shakhtar in next stage of the competition, and Benatia knows he must be wary of Luiz Adriano and the rest of the Ukranian champions’ strikeforce. Speaking to UEFA.com, Benatia said, ‘It doesn’t matter who the opponent is – we have to be focused, ready to play aggressively and give our opponents a tough game.’