BARCELONA: Liverpool have agreed to a £142 million ($192 million) deal to sell Philippe Coutinho to Catalan giants Barcelona in the biggest-ever transfer involving a British club. The Brazilian was scheduled to fly out to the Nou Camp late on Saturday evening to finalize terms. The move was reported by the UK’s Daily Telegraph to include a significant immediate down-payment followed by “achievable, guaranteed add-ons”. The Reds had rejected three offers from the Spanish side, as well as a transfer request from Coutinho himself, last summer. The final offer was for £118 million. Liverpool recently spent a world-record fee for a defender when they signed Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75 million, who scored on his debut in the FA Cup Merseyside derby on Friday night.
Barcelona tried to sign Coutinho in the summer, but Liverpool rebuffed their £100 million bid.
His departure will be a blow to Liverpool as the playmaker has just returned to top form after an injury-hit start to the season. He scored six goals in the last seven games of 2017 to put his side firmly in the Champions League places.
Capturing Coutinho allows Barcelona to move on from the bitter experience of losing his Brazil teammate Neymar last summer to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record €222 million euros ($267 million).
French sports daily L’Equipe reported on Saturday that Liverpool were lining up Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez to replace Coutinho, although Britain’s Press Association said the Anfield club had contacted Leicester to inform them that the reports were pure speculation.
Liverpool have also been strongly linked with Monaco forward Thomas Lemar, who Arsenal tried to sign before the season.
Coutinho played no role in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over city rivals Everton in the FA Cup on Friday.
Liverpool’s winning goal was scored by Virgil Van Dijk, the Dutch defender signed last week from Southampton for £75 million.
Coutinho completes move to Barcelona from Liverpool
Coutinho completes move to Barcelona from Liverpool
Holders PSG, Real Madrid among clubs awaiting Champions League play-offs draw
- The draw for the knockout stage play-offs takes place on Friday
- Europe’s elite club competition is now more bloated than ever since the expansion last season to 36 teams in the Champions League proper
PARIS: Title-holders Paris Saint-Germain and record 15-time winners Real Madrid are among the European giants who will have to come through the play-off round of this season’s Champions League after missing out on direct qualification for the last 16.
The draw for the knockout stage play-offs takes place on Friday from 1100 GMT after the league phase concluded on Wednesday with the eighth and final round of games.
There was real drama on the last night, in particular in Lisbon where Jose Mourinho’s Benfica beat his former side Real 4-2, goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring a 98th-minute goal that allowed the Portuguese giants to snatch the last spot in the play-offs and nudged their opponents out of the top eight.
Europe’s elite club competition is now more bloated than ever since the expansion last season to 36 teams in the Champions League proper.
That means 144 matches are now required to eliminate just 12 teams, with the top eight in the overall standings going through to the last 16 and the next 16 teams advancing to the play-offs.
At the end of it all, there are few real surprises, with the top 17 berths all occupied by clubs from the so-called big five European leagues of England (six), Spain (three), Italy (three), Germany (three) and France (PSG), with one exception in Portuguese giants Sporting.
Some big names did fall by the wayside, with Italian champions Napoli being bundled out along with three former champions in Marseille, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax. Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt were eliminated too.
The play-offs take place over two legs in February, with the eight winners completing the line-up for the last 16.
- Bodo/Glimt, Qarabag the surprises -
The most remarkable achievements in reaching the play-offs belong to Qarabag — the champions of Azerbaijan who advanced despite losing 6-0 to Liverpool in their final outing — and, above all, Bodo/Glimt.
Champions of Norway in four of the last six years, the outfit from north of the Arctic Circle beat Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in their last two matches to go through — despite their domestic season finishing at the end of November.
“We should be extremely proud,” said their coach Kjetil Knutsen, and Bodo/Glimt can now look forward to a glamor tie against either Real or last season’s beaten finalists Inter Milan.
The other possible tie for Madrid is an immediate rematch with Benfica, while other potential match-ups on Friday include PSG having to face domestic rivals Monaco and Borussia Dortmund having to play Bayer Leverkusen in all-Bundesliga showdown.
“We will have to take the long route, but I don’t think anyone else can be considered favorites more than us,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique of having to face an extra knockout tie, mindful that doing so last year did not stop the French side from going on to win the title.
“We deserve to be in this situation today,” admitted Real star Kylian Mbappe after his side’s loss in Lisbon saw them drop into the play-offs.
“Now we have to play two more play-off games. It hurts to have to play those, we wanted to have the time in February to work on our game.”
Real came through the play-offs last season, beating Manchester City before eventually losing to Arsenal in the quarter-finals.
This time City are one of their potential opponents in the last 16 in March, along with Sporting, should they make it through the play-offs.
Meanwhile, PSG already know they will play either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16, assuming they reach that stage — the Parisians beat Barcelona away earlier this season but lost to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final last July.
Arsenal, having finished first in the league phase, will take on one of Dortmund, Leverkusen, Atalanta or Olympiacos in the last 16.
Champions League knockout phase play-off draw teams
Seeded: Real Madrid (ESP), Inter Milan (ITA), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Newcastle United (ENG), Juventus (ITA), Atletico Madrid (ESP), Atalanta (ITA), Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Unseeded: Borussia Dortmund (GER), Olympiacos (GRE), Club Brugge (BEL), Galatasaray (TUR), Monaco (FRA), Qarabag (AZE), Bodo/Glimt (NOR), Benfica (POR)
