Philippe Coutinho has made an immediate impact on his return to the Premier League. The Brazilian player had left a great memory in English football of his time at Liverpool from 2013 to 2018, which is why Steven Gerrard, with whom he coincided as a teammate in the ‘red’ dressing room, has now joined Aston Villa from the Barca.
Gerrard was going to give in to Coutinho when Manchester United won 0-1 at Villa Park, but just before jumping onto the field Bruno Fernandes scored the 0-2.
It seemed impossible that, with 20 minutes to go, Villa would lift the game. But, revitalized by the presence of Coutinho, he succeeded.
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The Brazilian returned to play a Premier match four years later. At Liverpool he said goodbye to the English championship on December 30, 2017 against Leicester at Anfield (2-1). Today, after his time at Barça and the loan at Bayern Munich in the 2019-2020 season, he returned in a big way.
Another Coutinho
It was another Coutinho that the Barça fans were used to seeing. Spurred on by the confidence that Gerrard has placed in him and carried on the wings by a crowd that cheered him when he came out onto the pitch to greet him, raising his hand to his shield before the kick-off as an introduction, he immediately connected with his teammates and, after a wall with Carney Chukwuemeka, floor area decisively leading to Jacob Ramsey’s goal.
Shortly after, he dared with a shot that was deflected by David De Gea and, in minute 82, Coutinho equalized (2-2) by pushing Ramsey’s low cross to the second post into an empty goal that Raphaël Varane did not reach. It is his first goal in the Premier since he scored on December 26, 2017 in a Liverpool-Swansea (5-0). He has 42 in the English championship and the Aston Villa fans are the first of many.