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Philippe Coutinho: Ex-Liverpool star vows to dump Manchester United out of the Champions League

Sudarshan Venkatesan
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Former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho has vowed to show the exit door for Manchester United in the Champions League Quarterfinals.

Philippe Coutinho has warned Manchester United ahead of the Champions League Quarterfinals tie. The Brazilian International seems to have an unbreakable alliance with his former club and has made a statement by saying that he would make Liverpool fans happy by knocking their rivals out of the competition.

The 26-year-old knows that he and Luis Suarez will receive special treatment from the crowd at Old Trafford on Wednesday. But, he insisted that those jeers will only help their mentality to beat their opponents.

The Brazilian, who cost 142 million euros from Liverpool, said “If they boo myself and Luis Suarez, then that’s normal at Old Trafford because of the team we used to play for. 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. 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.”

If Barcelona do manage to beat Manchester United, and Coutinho’s former club overcome FC Porto, these two heavyweights will go head-to-head in the semifinals, although Coutinho says that he would like to meet Liverpool in the finals of the competition.

“I know that Liverpool supporters will be with us at United,” said Coutinho.

“But they know that later we could see them at Anfield and then, of course, I will be there with Barcelona wanting to win. It would be a dream to play at ­Anfield again, an explosion of different feelings, I’m sure. But I have to be honest and say I would have preferred to meet Liverpool only in the final itself.”

“What I can say is that I’m glad that Liverpool are doing well this year and, if the draw had been different, I would have liked to play the Champions League Final against them.

“Klopp is a great coach and it was only a matter of time before he got the team performing the way they are. They are having an incredible season. But so are we – and I am focused first on Barcelona.” adds the 26-year-old.

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What’s next?

Following a huge victory over Atletico Madrid in the La Liga, Barcelona will turn their focus to the Champions League Quarterfinals as they prepare to take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

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