The last man Liverpool supporters wanted to see taken off on Saturday afternoon was Philippe Coutinho.
If anyone in the Reds ranks possesses the magic to produce the required moment of brilliance to win a game, it’s the Brazilian talisman.
But in what was Coutinho’s first start of the season for Liverpool, the midfielder was substituted by Jurgen Klopp with his side desperately pursuing a winner against Burnley at Anfield.
78: And here are those subs…
▶ Oxlade-Chamberlain, Solanke
◀ Firmino, Coutinho[1-1] #LFC
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 16, 2017
The visitors took the lead when Scott Arfield found the net in the first half but Mohamed Salah equalised just moments after.
The home pressure came in waves late on but there were some raised eyebrows in the crowd when Coutinho was removed from the action with just over 10 minutes remaining on the clock and was replaced by Dominic Solanke.
There was no late dramatic winner and, in his post-match press conference, Klopp explained why he had take off the man who was the subject of keen interest from Barcelona all summer long.
“He did well. He needs rhythm, that’s normal,” Klopp said of Coutinho.
“I didn’t want to change him at the end, that’s why it looked a bit confused as we brought the subs on.
“I asked him to stand up, but then obviously when we got the drinks in this little interruption we saw. It was only a cramp but it was maybe better to stop and we had to change this.”
