The 1st legs of the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals take place this week and all four ties look evenly balanced. What does this mean for fantasy football managers?

Well, most sites will have contests for each competition featuring the two games so line-ups should be pretty diverse which might not necessarily be the case if there were strong favourites in each of the opening legs.

The bookies are struggling to separate them with all of the sides chalked in with a win percentage under 40 percent.

Team news is dominating the Etihad showdown, with Karim Benzema unlikely to feature even though he has travelled. Cristiano Ronaldo missed out at the weekend, but should be fit, while Yaya Touré is a major doubt for the hosts.

Diego Godin is a huge loss for Atlético Madrid but Diego Simeone’s troops sent Barcelona packing in the last round so write them off at your peril.

Mamadou Sakho has been hogging the Europa League headlines, courtesy of his failed drugs test and Jürgen Klopp does have a few injuries to contend with, so it will be interesting to see what sort of team he puts out for a Liverpool side that has started to score goals.

Sevilla go for a third straight title but won’t have things all their own way in the Ukraine.

We’ve previewed all four ties so make sure you reference those for additional selection pointers.

Champions League semi-final preview: Manchester City v Real Madrid

Champions League semi-final preview: Atlético Madrid v Bayern Munich

Europa League semi-final preview: Villarreal v Liverpool

Europa League semi-final preview: Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla