Time for Philippe Coutinho to shine for Barcelona in the Champions League

Andy West 14:15 17/09/2018
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Barcelona kick off their quest to return to the ascendancy of European football with Tuesday night’s Champions League opener against PSV Eindhoven at the Camp Nou, and it’s absolutely a must-win game for Ernesto Valverde’s men.

    As Lionel Messi admitted in his pre-season captain’s speech to fans, the Catalan giants have been hugely frustrated by exiting in the quarter-finals for the last three years running and have prioritised the Champions League above all other trophies this season.

    But they certainly won’t have it easy with an opening group game which has every chance of becoming a dangerous banana skin for Messi and co.

    MUST-WIN FOR BARCA IN GROUP OF DEATH

    Mark Van Bommel

    Mark Van Bommel

    With Tottenham and Inter Milan lying in wait in an exceptionally challenging group, there is absolutely no margin for error for Barca as they head into theoretically the easiest of their six upcoming matches.

    But PSV will be no pushovers. The Dutch team – domestic title winners in three of the last four seasons – have been in flying form at the start of the new campaign, overcoming BATE Borisov 6-2 on aggregate in the qualifying round and winning their first five league games by a cumulative score of 21-3.

    The team managed by former Barca midfield hard man Mark Van Bommel will certainly fancy their chances of causing an upset, with dangerous forwards Luuk De Jong, Hirving Lozano (Mexico’s match-winner in the dramatic World Cup victory over Germany) and Steven Bergwijn all in free-scoring form.

    Anything less than three points would leave Barca facing the serious prospect of an embarrassingly early exit, and they certainly cannot afford to deliver a repeat of the poor first-half performance delivered in Saturday’s fortuitous 2-1 victory at Real Sociedad.

    To avoid making life very difficult for themselves in the coming weeks, hitting the ground running is the only option.

    COUTINHO READY TO STEP UP

    Lionel Messi and Philippe Coutinho

    Lionel Messi and Philippe Coutinho

    Barca are set to give a Champions League club debut to Philippe Coutinho, who was cup-tied for the knockout stages after joining the club in January having appeared in the competition’s earlier stages with Liverpool.

    The importance of Coutinho’s role at his new club was emphasised on Saturday, when he was initially rested by coach Valverde for the trip to Real Sociedad after playing twice for Brazil in midweek.

    The midfield struggled without him and he was brought on the break, immediately effecting a significant improvement which eventually led to victory – just as he did in the league opener against Alaves last month, when he also started on the bench before being introduced to turn the contest in his team’s favour.

    Coutinho’s ability to manoeuvre his way through tight spaces to combine with Messi and former Liverpool teammate Luis Suarez adds another dimension to Barca’s otherwise often staid associative play in midfield, and his ability to shoot from long-range will provide another test to PSV’s defence.

    The 26 year-old has made a very positive start to his Camp Nou career, and the Champions League campaign could be where he really makes his mark.

    SEMEDO DITCHED ONCE AGAIN? 

    Nelson Semedo

    Nelson Semedo

    It appears that every time Barca boss Valverde gives an opportunity to Nelson Semedo to prove himself as a capable starter at right-back, the Portuguese defender fluffs his lines and is forced to make way for Sergi Roberto.

    That happened in the season opener against Alaves, where Semedo only lasted until the interval before being replaced, and again in last weekend’s win at the Anoeta, with Roberto undertaking a half-time positional change for the second time in four games.

    Valverde would like to be able to deploy Roberto in midfield, the position he played throughout his youth before being slotted in as an emergency right-back during an injury absence for Dani Alves in 2015.

    But the unconvincing performances of Semedo mean that Roberto continues to be the best option in his three-year-old ‘temporary’ position, and he will almost certainly be reinstated to that starting slot this week.

    Recommended