Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho suffers injury setback - Reports

Barcelona have received an injury blow as Philippe Coutinho is expected to be out longer than initially thought.

The 28-year-old damaged his external meniscus in December last year and went under the knife to repair the issue.

It was revealed back then that the Brazilian needed at least three months to recover, and a tentative return was mooted for April.

However, as per Mundo Deportivo (via AS), Philippe Coutinho is not recovering at the pace that was initially predicted, so he is unlikely to return in time for El Clasico against Real Madrid in April 10th.

Philippe Coutinho’s torrid spell at Barcelona set to continue

Philippe Coutinho is not normally injury prone. In fact, this is the longest he has been out of action in his career, and it has come at the worst possible time.

The former Liverpool man needed a lucky break, and it came in the form of Ronald Koeman, who was willing to give him a chance in the team.

Prior to his injury, Philippe Coutinho made 12 appearances for Barcelona in La Liga, eight of them in the starting XI, as Koeman tried to build a team around him. He was even played in his preferred attacking midfield role more often than not.

Although Barcelona have not missed his presence in the league so far – they have won seven of their last eight games in La Liga – he could have made a difference in the cup competitions, where the Blaugrana have struggled this season.

The Catalan giants were beaten 4-1 by PSG in the first leg of the Champions League and looked disjointed in attack against Sevilla in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals a couple of weeks ago.

Philippe Coutinho’s injury has seen him miss 25 games for Barcelona already, and the club will hope he comes back as a stronger player. Before his injury, he had played 14 times for Barcelona in all competitions and had managed three goals and two assists in the process.

The Blaugrana might have nothing to play for by the time Coutinho returns, but they will want to finish the season on a high and will look to challenge for silverware next season.