Champions League 2019-20: Top 5 players from the group stage
The entertaining group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2019-20 has come to its conclusion, with some teams dropping down to the Europa League while others qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages.
There were a lot of gripping matches, where players stepped up and displayed their individual qualities. Some players such as Robert Lewandowski and Erling Braut Haaland performed consistently for their respective teams, while others like Serge Gnabry and Mohamed Salah came up with great performances when the situation demanded.
New talents are discovered in the Champions League every season, and this season was no different. Haaland, Takumi Minamino, Tammy Abraham and several other players were in the spotlight of Europe's biggest competition for the very first time.
Many memorable individual performances were witnessed in this season's group stage, like Serge Gnabry's hat-trick against Tottenham or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's incredible show against Genk in Belgium.
Here, we are going to take a look at the top 5 players from the UEFA Champions League 2019-20 group stage:
#5 Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
Toni Kroos was one of the best midfielders in the group stage of this season's Champions League. The German international completed 90 minutes in each of the 5 matches he played and was rested for the last group stage game against Club Brugge.
Be it attack or defense, the 29-year-old was always up to the task; he showed why he is considered one of the very best midfielders of this decade. Defensively, he made 3 tackles and 1 interception per game, which highlights a rather important trait in the German's armour: working hard off the ball.
He was a steadying influence whenever Real Madrid had possession of the ball, which highlights his quality as a deep-lying orchestrator. The German had an average of 87 passes per game (93% passing accuracy), which is the highest for any player in the group stage this season.
Kroos scored one goal and provided one assist during the 5 matches and despite having next to zero direct goal contributions, he was crucial to Real Madrid's attack. The German provided close to 4 key passes per game, which again is the highest for any player in the group stage. He had the highest shots per 90 minutes for a midfield player, with 3 shots per game.
The Los Blancos would be hoping for the best version of Kroos in the knockout rounds of the competition.