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Coutinho starts for Barca against Liverpool, Firmino on the bench

SoccerNews in General Soccer News 1 May 2019

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Philippe Coutinho was picked to start Barcelona’s Champions League semi-final first leg against his former club Liverpool, who selected fellow Brazil international Roberto Firmino on the bench. 

Coutinho has garnered mixed reviews since swapping Merseyside for Catalonia in a reported €160million move in January 2018 but, following a stunning goal against Manchester United in the previous round, he was granted a spot alongside Lionel Messi and another ex-Red Luis Suarez in Barca’s front three at Camp Nou. 

Liverpool’s own feted trident were not all named from the start, however, with Firmino among the substitutes after sitting out last Friday’s 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town with an ankle knock. 

Explaining his decision to be cautious with Firmino, Klopp told BT Sport: “That’s how it is with the short periods between the games – you cannot be sure.

“Bobby wants to [play] and the medical department told me ‘yes, it’s good’ but then you have to make sure – I’m not sure if [he is able to play] 90 minutes or whatever.

“So he doesn’t have to start, that’s why we start like we start. Bobby is on the bench, that’s good news.”

Naby Keita was set to line up on the left of Jurgen Klopp’s attack alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, while James Milner got the nod to start alongside Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield. 

Club captain Jordan Henderson had to be content with a place among the substitutes alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold, the England right-back dropped in favour of Joe Gomez. 

Klopp stated that a desire to include fresh legs in his line-up as Liverpool battle for top honours at home and abroad was behind the changes made to his midfield and defence.

“Hendo played five games in a row, for example, and we play [again] on Saturday and Tuesday,” he said.

“Millie didn’t play for two games so it was clear we had to use him. Fabinho didn’t play for two games so it was clear we had to use him. Naby didn’t have that many games during the whole season, Gini didn’t play all the games.

“That’s why midfield, where it’s really intense, is where we have to make sure we have legs there.”

Klopp added: “It’s the same for Trent. It was clear when Joe would be available again that there would be a game and I think today it makes absolute sense in that position.

“For Trent it’s good, he can refresh a little bit, there are important games to come. But the first thing we wanted to make was a good line-up for [Wednesday] and for a good line-up you need legs and that’s what we tried to make sure of.”

Barca head coach Ernesto Valverde expressed a pre-match wish to disrupt the supply line to Liverpool’s attackers and Arturo Vidal being preferred in midfield to playmaker Arthur appears to be in line with those sentiments. 

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