Philippe Coutinho: “A Dream” To Play at Anfield Again In Champions League

Amazingly, we have decided not to call this particular report “Phlopp Talk”

He’ll have to get past Manchester United first, but Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho is thinking about a possible return to Anfield in the Champions League, if Liverpool can also get the job done against Porto. Speaking to the the Mirror ahead of Barcelona’s visit to Old Trafford, Coutinho rightfully noted that a potential trip to Merseyside in different colors since his acrimonious departure might be . . . complicated, emotion-wise.

“It would be a dream to play at ­Anfield again, an explosion of different feelings, I’m sure,” was how Coutinho summarized the obvious. “But I have to be honest and say I would have preferred to meet Liverpool only in the final itself.”

Hopefully if things get to that point, Coutinho decides against visiting the Melwood dining room, or else the kitchen staff might see to it that the former Liverpool star experiences an explosion of the digestive kind.

As for the clash against Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side, Coutinho is well aware that the Old Trafford crowd will have an extra incentive to be quite vocal in expressing their feelings about the Brazilian midfielder and Luis Suarez.

“If they boo myself and Luis Suarez, then that’s normal at Old Trafford because of the team we used to play for,” observed Coutinho. “But it won’t make any difference to me. And, even more than that, it is an incentive to play better and to be even more focused.”

“I know that games against Manchester United are special,” he added. “I learned what they meant during my time at Liverpool when we lived it so intensely with the fans. I have that nailed in my memory and, even though this is a different stage, if Barcelona knock United out of Europe, it will be a double personal satisfaction for me.”

Addressing rumors that he might be thinking about a return to the Premier League next year, perhaps wearing something other than a Liverpool shirt, Coutinho quickly silenced the whispering:

“My head is exclusively in Barcelona,” he stated. “Returning to England now does not fit into my plans.”

And as we all know, players always express exactly how they feel.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com