At this, the ‘symbolic’ halfway point of the 2006-07 Champions League campaign, I'd like to review the season so far. The group stage has ended with the year 2006 and the knockout round will begin in 2007, so everything lines up neatly.

In the past I have compiled the best team of each round of match days. A sort of team of the week. Building on that theme, here are my teams of the Champions League season so far. The three sides are made up of stand-out players comprised respectively from the teams who finished as group winners, group runners-up and UEFA Cup dropouts (third place in each group). There is at least one and no more than two players from any one club in each line-up. Keep in mind, though, that since they are the best 11 players, the teams may not necessarily be balanced everywhere.

For the realists who prioritise balance over performance, I have also included a balancing option to even things out in each team.

GROUP WINNERS' XI (4-4-2): Coupet (Lyon); Sagnol (Bayern), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Albiol (Valencia), Heinze (Manchester United); Kaka (Milan), Juninho (Lyon), Fabregas (Arsenal), Garcia (Liverpool); Villa (Valencia), Drogba (Chelsea). Balancing option - Gerrard (Liverpool) for Garcia.

GROUP RUNNERS-UP XI (4-4-2): Casillas (Real Madrid); Zanetti (Inter), Tavlaridis (Lille), Alex (PSV), Panucci (Roma); Stankovic (Inter), Gonzalez (Porto), Totti (Roma), Deco (Barcelona); Miller (Celtic), Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid). Balancing option - Quaresma (Porto) for Gonzalez.

UEFA CUP BOUND XI (3-5-2): Akinfeev (CSKA); Nalco (Bremen), Nelson (Benfica), Cirillo (AEK); Frings (Bremen), Faubert (Bordeaux), Dica (Steaua), Kalynychenko (Shakhtar), Boyarintsev (Spartak); Miccoli (Benfica), Daniel Carvalho (CSKA). Balancing option - Borowski (Bremen) for Frings.