Coutinho looks forward to Champions League debut

Speaking the day before the first game of the 2018/19 Champions League campaign, Philippe Coutinho said that “it will be a special, important night for me. I’m looking forward to this because I couldn’t play in this competition for Barça last season.”

“We are Barça and we want to win every competition we play in. The Champions League is a huge competition and we want to do big things … It’s a very demanding competition because of the quality of the teams involved, but both us players and the fans are really hungry to win it.”

Playing his own game

Comparisons have been made between the Brazilian and the great Andrés Iniesta, who the former describes as a “genius. But it’s hard to compare me to him because we both have our ways of playing. I just try to be myself. Not to say that it isn’t a huge honour to be compared to a player like him.”

As for Leo Messi, “he’s the best player in the world and surely of all time. Like the rest of us, he wants to achieve great things this season, and the Champions League is one of those.”

Fully focused

He adds that “we are in a very difficult group, we need to be 100 per cent in every game and not think that we are favourites.”

And on tactics, he concludes that “I always try to do my bit in whatever position I’m playing. I work hard to help my team-mates … I feel most comfortable on the left because that’s where I have always played but I try to adapt to whatever position.”