DBasia.news – A big investment was spent by Barcelona when recruiting Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in January 2018 for 150 million euros. His expectations were of course big. But a year after the transfer, Coutinho’s appearance was far from satisfying.
The Sport-English media based in Catalunya, with tendentious tendencies to Barcelona, until they could not bear to see Coutinho’s poor performance getting worse each time he was given the opportunity to play by Ernesto Valverde.
Coutinho’s poor performance continued into the Copa del Rey semi-final between Barcelona and Real Madrid which ended 1-1 at Camp Nou on Thursday (7/2) morning Western Indonesian Time. The 26-year-old played very badly in that match.
Valverde only gave him the opportunity to appear for 60 minutes before being replaced by Lionel Messi. In contrast to Malcom, Barca’s goal scorer against Madrid, Coutinho did not provide a real threat to Madrid’s defense.
“One day when he (Coutinho) was needed to fill the post with the absence of Leo Messi, Coutinho played one of his worst matches since arriving at Barca. It accumulated a poor appearance for months,” wrote the article in Sport .
“He practically is not involved in the game, and when he is involved, his choices are always wrong. Every ball that comes to him is a missing ball. On the contrary, Malcom, who is a surprise name in the composition of players, is very active and gets his prize with an equalizing goal.”
Luis Mascaro, author of Sport , saw Malcom, who was also from Brazil, always fighting, brave and creating more danger than other Barca attackers.
Coutinho, with the ball touch, the ability to be actively involved in each attack, creating opportunities, a final settlement, which he had shown at Liverpool, immediately vanished at Barca.
It’s not Valverde’s fault. Indeed, Barca and Liverpool’s football philosophy is different. However, Valverde and also Josep Maria Bartomeu, President of Barca, had given him support in the form of conviction. Likewise Messi with his help to Coutinho.
All returned to Coutinho. With Barca’s exorbitant price tag when bringing him, it is only natural that he is always highlighted like Neymar at PSG or Ousmane Dembele at Barca.