Coutinho made his first appearance since joining from Liverpool in a club-record deal reportedly worth €160million as Barcelona overcame rivals Espanyol 2-0 in the Cope del Rey quarter-finals.
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Messi’s strike last night was the 4000th Barcelona goal at the Nou Camp since the Blaugrana moved in back in 1957.
And just a minute later Messi extended Barcelona’s lead and put them ahead in the tie for the first time when his shot from outside the area beat Pau Lopez in the Espanyol goal. With what happened yesterday [Madrid losing to Leganes] and the day before [Sevilla beating Atletico], you can see it’s not easy to get through.
It was a good debut for Coutinho, who came off the bench in the second half to replace Andres Iniesta, playing well in the almost 25 minutes he was on the pitch.
It was the nearly the biggest cheer of the night when Philippe Coutinho replaced Andres Iniesta in the 68th minute.
“Comfortable on the ball and created a great chance for Suarez”.
With the team trailing in the tie, fans responded to calls to pack out the stadium and registered the second biggest attendance of the campaign after the Super Cup game against Real Madrid.
The Brazilian worldwide made his first appearance for the Catalan giants on Thursday evening following his £142million switch from Liverpool.
And Spanish outlet Don Balon claim Real players were left impressed by what they saw.
Speaking of Ernesto Valverde, Messi said: “The new coach was very clear in telling us what he wanted, which was rather similar to what we did before really”.
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“In the end we won, which was the most important thing, and got through to the next round”. Coutinho was signed early this month by Barcelona in a deal reported to be worth upwards of £140 million.
