Copa Del Rey, Barcelona 6-1 Sevilla (Aggregate 6-3): Five Talking Points

#5 A hopeful end-of-bad-days for Philippe Coutinho

Coutinho returned to form in fine fashion

All has not been well with the former Liverpool starlet over the last many weeks in Barcelona colours. Coutinho seemed to lose confidence over the ball with each passing day, and fans also started forgetting how well he used to come from left wide and then cut into fore a shot that usually pierces the top-right corner of the goal. Coutinho's starting position was further threatened, as Ousmane Dembele started outshining almost every other player in the club, with his pacy runs, street-smart technique and scoring the occasional belter.

There even have been calls for the management to replace the Brazilian, as it was rumoured that sides like PSG even readied up offers provided Barca was ready to offload him. It was amidst such circumstances that Valverde gave Coutinho the chance to start in the home fixture against Seville, and boy will he be glad that happened.

Barcelona got a penalty as early as the thirteenth minute as Sevilla's Promes foolishly tapped Messi in the ankle to bring him down inside the box. As the referee pointed to the spot, all eyes shifted to Messi who is the penalty-taker by default, but he simply threw the ball to Coutinho and asked him to take the chance instead. The goal was scored, and it probably may have been the break of what has been an excruciating phase for the winger/attacking midfielder. Within a few minutes of second-half kicking in, Coutinho nodded a Pique cross into the net to give Barca the overall advantage, also doubling his name on the scoresheet.

In addition to the goals, Coutinho was also a very valuable member of Barcelona's attacks, and for the first time in a few weeks, emerged as one of the better players on the pitch. Hopefully, it is an end of them dreary days for the star, who memorably opened his own wallet to shell out €9 million, to facilitate his transfer to Barca - such was his dream of once playing in the iconic maroon-and-blue.