The highest-paid XI in the 2024-25 Champions League: No Haaland or Mbappe…

Players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, PSG and Bayern Munich dominate the highest-paid XI in the Champions League for the 2024-25 season.

We’ve compiled in a classic 4-3-3 formation, and singled out the top-paid player for every position in the line-up. We’ve been strict and not moved players around for the sake of convenience, meaning that some of European football’s biggest and best-paid players miss out on cracking this teamsheet.

Here’s the XI in full, with details of each player’s estimated salary coming via FBref (figures from Capology).

GK: Manuel Neuer

The 38-year-old’s many years of excellent service to Bayern Munich have been rewarded with a monster salary that makes him comfortably the highest-paid goalkeeper in world football.

Neuer reportedly earns just over €400,000 a week, which is over reportedly over 25% more than Thibaut Courtois gets at Real Madrid.

He signed his last extension back in November 2023, and it expires next summer – prompting suggestions of retirement.

The Champions League final is at the Allianz Arena this season – might Neuer get the perfect swansong, as well as a long-awaited score-settling for 2012? Watch this space.

RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold

This one took a bit of digging. The only right-back that features in Europe’s top 100 best-paid players is Reece James, but Chelsea are only competing in the third-tier Conference League.

Looking through manually, we came to the Liverpool man, who is said to take home €180,000 a week on his current deal – which expires at the end of the season.

Whether he extends his current deal with his boyhood Reds or joins Real Madrid on a free, you imagine that Alexander-Arnold’s next contract will see a substantial pay rise that puts his salary among Europe’s elite.

CB: David Alaba

The Austrian didn’t command a transfer fee when he left Bayern Munich for Real Madrid back in 2021, a state of affairs that surely has a major role to play in him being the top-paid defender in world football with an estimated weekly salary of €432,000 – just shy of what Erling Haaland bags at Man City, to put that in context.

Agents across Europe are surely taking note and advising their clients that it might well pay off in the long-term to run down your contract.

CB: Marquinhos

Gone are the days that PSG boasted the likes of Sergio Ramos, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe all on the same teamsheet.

The perennial Ligue 1 champions remain a strong side with some superb individuals, more than capable of going deep into the latter stages, but the Galacticos they ain’t.

Long-serving club captain Marquinhos isn’t PSG’s top earner, but he does make this XI – by virtue of an estimated €323,000-a-week salary that makes him the second highest-paid centre-back in Europe, taking home more than the likes of Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba, Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Dias.

LB: Lucas Hernandez

Another PSG representative, Hernandez is believed to pocket a cool €365,000 a week.

Alright for some.

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DM: Leon Goretzka

Casemiro is comfortably Europe’s highest-paid defensive midfielder, but the Brazilian will only be turning out in the Europa League this season.

And he wouldn’t have European football at all had his Manchester United team-mates not won the FA Cup final in his absence.

But the Champions League’s top-paid enforcer isn’t faring much better, having fallen out of favour at Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich. Goretzka was reportedly shopped around in the summer transfer market but ended up staying put, where he now appears set to warm the bench for summer signing Joao Palhinha.

“We players feel for him too,” Neuer recently told reporters in Germany. “He has always been an important player for us. I believe in him, he’s extremely motivated and you can see that in every training session. I’m firmly convinced that his time will come.”

CM: Frenkie de Jong

Does it class as “first name on the teamsheet” here if you’re Europe’s top-paid player? Just the €721,000 per week for Frenkie.

The Netherlands international has suffered a rotten time of it with injuries in 2024 and is not expected back any time soon. Hansi Flick’s Barca seem to be coping fine without him, but they’ll want him back soon if they’re to get bang for their buck.

CM: Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City’s brilliant Belgian is the top earner in the Premier League with wages believed to be in the region of €473,000 a week.

Talk of a move to Saudi Arabia won’t go away, but he ended up staying put in the summer and now appears set to see out his contract at The Etihad. Who knows what kind of money the 33-year-old could command should he leave on a free at the end of the season.

FWR: Mohamed Salah

Liverpool’s Egyptian King is in a similar boat to De Bruyne.

His current €414,000-a-week deal expires at the end of the season and the club appear reluctant to commit to continuing to pay that kind of bunse, club icon or not.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see the player and club part ways next year, but likewise it wouldn’t be a shock if he extends for another year or two. The arrangement certainly seems to be working out well enough for them both.

READ: Every club in Europe ranked by their 2024-25 wage bill: Real Madrid 2nd, Liverpool 9th…

ST: Robert Lewandowski

Leading the line for this star-studded XI is neither Kylian Mbappe nor his great rival Erling Haaland. Not even Harry Kane.

The prolific Pole reportedly has it written into his deal at Barcelona that his salary increases each season, a state of play that has led to him pocketing an estimated €640,000 a week.

“I see Robert more motivated than ever,” club president Joan Laporta told reporters earlier this month.

“Robert needed this new push, he’s in very good physical shape and I see him very excited. He’s a player committed to the club and I can assure you of that. When he heard that we had to make some efforts to reach the Fair Play to register players, he told us he could lower his contract in order to help the club.

“I really appreciate it, but I told him it wasn’t necessary. He’s very committed to the club and he’s also demanding with the team, with himself and with his team-mates. We’ve gotten a good performance out of him and I’m sure that this will be Lewandowski’s best year.”

FWL: Vinicius Junior

There was some talk about how things might look for the European champions this season following the arrival of a certain Frenchman, but Vinicius Junior has remain in his preferred left-sided attacking role with the new boy playing up top.

Mbappe is believed to take home 50% more than the Brazilian – €600,000 to €400,000 – but it’s Vini Junior that takes the spot on the left side of this forward line.