Late goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi handed Barcelona a 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou. The win practically handed the Catalan giants the La Liga title, as they stretch the lead at the top of the table to 11 points.
With Ousmane Dembele injured, Philippe Coutinho will – in all probability – start in Barcelona’s Champions League fixture against Manchester United on Wednesday.
We take a look at how the Brazilian performed against Atletico.
KEY STATS
Minutes: 80
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Shots (on target): 3 (2)
Passes (success rate): 39 (97%)
Dribbles completed: 5
Dispossessed: 2
🏁 There's the whistle! Barça get late goals from @LuisSuarez9 and Leo #Messi, to sink 10-man Atlético and move to 11 pts clear with seven games to play in @LaLigaEN!
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 6, 2019
👉 Match Center: https://t.co/Lq8BMkcebM
🔵🔴 #BarçaAtleti pic.twitter.com/XTDkk1j0hi
30-second report
Coutinho started on the front foot in the first half and looked confident from the beginning. He linked up very well with Suarez and Messi up front and looked good on the counter.
Additionally, his work-rate was appreciable and he paroled up and down the left wing to provide a sense of security to Jordi Alba. He also put in a solid block of Saul Nigez’s shot which could have surprised Marc-Andre ter Stegen at the near post.
The Brazilian created a couple of good chances but he also lacked a cutting edge and was often the culprit in letting Atletico through on the counter.
GOT RIGHT: CONFIDENCE
Coutinho is clearly going through a rough patch and it’s never easy to go up against the best defence in the league in such a state of mind. To his credit, the Brazilian put on a confident show. A goal or an assist could have done a lot to amplify this confidence, but the grit and commitment showed by Coutinho is worth a mention.
This also helped him create a couple of really good goalscoring opportunities as he went for the final ball in situations he probably would have ordinarily played a safe pass. The Brazilian did create arguably the best chance of the first half, which Suarez failed to convert.
Simply put, Coutinho completed 38 of the 39 passes he attempted, successfully completed five dribbles and made a crucial block. He might have lacked the edge to finish off moves, but these stats reek of confidence.
GOT WRONG: CONVERSION
For all his confidence, Coutinho‘s conversion was really poor. The midfielder was presented with two good chances in the first half, but he failed to make Oblak break sweat.
It’s true that he was up against arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, but David De Gea is in the same tier or slightly higher and so the Brazilian will have to really work on this aspect of his game as the Champions League returns.
VERDICT
It was not a great performance from Coutinho by any means but it was far from his worst, which says a lot about the season he is having.
It was refreshing to watch the Brazilian play confidently and attract a lot of attention from the Atletico defence.
He is certainly not in a best frame of minds to take on United, but a performance like this can do more good than harm to his confidence as he heads to Old Trafford.
Rating: 7/10
