Aston Villa loanee Philippe Coutinho scored his first goal for the Selecao in over a year as Brazil cruised to victory over Paraguay on Tuesday night. The diminutive playmaker says he will ‘keep working’ to reach the high levels that football fans across the globe became accustomed to while he was ripping it up at Anfield.
Phillipe Coutinho said: “It’s always good to play with the support of the fans, like today. I missed that, it was very nice to play with our fans supporting. This is very important. A long time off, I had a difficult, complicated injury. I was called up again, I came back again now, I played, I left at the beginning in the last game. The manager gave me another chance today, we won the game and I’m happy to score in this stadium and with all the Brazilian fans present. I had a very difficult time, I was away from the pitch for nine months, I underwent three surgeries. There are times when you see the difficulty passing, but I had all the support of my family at all times. The CBF and all the staff, Dr Rodrigo and Fábio also provided all the help for my recovery. Today’s game doesn’t change anything, just like before, it doesn’t either. I want to keep working to evolve. At clubs we have to do our best to be able to come back.”
