Barcelona announced on Wednesday that Philippe Coutinho will have surgery on a knee injury suffered against Eibar in La Liga at Camp Nou.
The Brazilian foreigner was behind in Tuesday’s disappointing 1-1 draw in the Catalan giants’ last game in 2020, and Barca has now presented an update on their status on the club’s official website.
Tests on the team’s first player, Philippe Coutinho, showed that the midfielder has a meniscus on the side of his left knee. Treatment will require arthroscopic surgery to be performed in the coming days.
The Brazilian joined in the 66th minute of the tie against Eibar in Miralem Pjanic’s position, but was unable to finish the attack by an injury he recovered in extra time in the middle of the moment, leaving Barca with 10 men as he had already done he used his five legal substitutes.
The news is a blow to Barca, as they no longer feature key stars such as Gerard Piqué, Ansu Fati and Sergi Roberto for injury. Ronald Koeman’s men have also had a tricky start to the season and are sixth in qualifying after 15 games.
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Barcelona has refused to verify how much longer the Brazilian will be missing, but most likely offers an update after Coutinho has undergone his surgery.
According to Javi Miguel de AS, the 28-year-old could be out for up to 4 months, which would mean the striker would miss the most of the rest of the season.
Coutinho has already missed a month after having a ham of the corva against Real Madrid in October. In total, he played 14 games for Barca in all competitions in 2020-21, scoring 3 goals and contributing two assists.
The news will be a blow to Coutinho, who returned to Barcelona this summer after a successful transfer at Bayern Munich, where he helped the Bavarian giants win the hat-trick.
Coutinho’s injury likely means even more playing time for the 18-year-old Pedri. The summer signing of Las Palmas has been one of the few positive aspects of Barcelona’s crusade to date.
Before the season there were suggestions that Pedri could be loaned to play regularly, but the teenager stayed at the club and made his way into Koeman’s plans.
The teenager played in each and every Barca match in 2020-21 and congratulated the striker of Tuesday’s clash with Eibar on his pre-match press conference through manager Koeman.
From what I’ve noticed so far, his personality and character, I think he’s an example of someone who’s doing well, especially for his age and in a club as big as this, my staff and I help him and he, giving him recommendation and play time.
But I think Pedri is a modest family kid, he knows what he wants to do to himself and what he wants to do so as not to think he’s understood everything, he has a bright future, but he only exists if you run hard.
Pedri already turns out to be Coutinho’s striker in barcelona’s hierarchy and will consolidate his position in the starting lineup if he can continue to reflect the way he has shown in the season.
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