Coutinho is back in the Blaugrana
Philippe Coutinho made his return to action for Barcelona on Sunday night, helping his side to a comfortable season-opening victory over Villarreal in the Camp Nou.
The former Liverpool midfielder wasted little time in catching the eye, either, thanks to a bizarre incident involving the referee. In possession of the ball in the Villarreal half, Coutinho turned away from goal to play a pass infield only to find the match official blocking his path. After a split second’s hesitation, he nudged the ball through his legs, much the delight of the crowd fake crowd noise.
Coutinho could nutmeg a mermaid… 😅🥜#BarçaVillarreal pic.twitter.com/tqnU78igH3
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) September 27, 2020
Coutinho had, of course, played against Barca while on loan at Bayern Munich a matter of weeks ago, scoring twice against his parent club in their humiliating 8-2 defeat in the Champions League.
While it was 17-year-old Ansu Fati who stole the headlines against Villarreal, Coutinho marked his return by assisting one of the teenager’s two goals, sparking hope that the Brazilian can resurrect what has so far been an underwhelming spell as a Barca player.
Fati scored a brace inside 20 minutes before winning a penalty. Ignoring the fact the youngster would have likely completed a first-half hat-trick had he taken it, Lionel Messi stepped up for the spot kick and scored the third goal of the night and quite possible the first of his final season as a Barca player. The scoring was complete just before half-time when a Messi pass was turned into his own goal by Pau Torres.
To the relief of the visitors, Barca failed to add to their tally after the interval, the score finishing 4-0.
