He’s been on the slippery slope for the last couple of years, but these days are significantly more dreadful for Phillippe Coutinho than others. After rumours that he’ll be the first one to be given a goodbye note by new Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez, former Liverpool mainstay suffered a massive blow with his national side, too.Xavi’s first day at work and the Coutinho caseAccording to Catalan newspaper Sport, Coutinho travelled exactly 22,250 kilometres during the recent international break only to be left on the bench for the entire 180 minutes.He spent almost 20,000 km flying from Barcelona to Brazil and back, and the rest was the round trip to Argentina, where the archrivals met in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers match that ended in a stalemate (0-0).Gauchos join Brazil in Qatar, Uruguayans say farewell to the planetary tournamentThe Selecao coach Tite decided to play more defensively against Messi and co. and confronted them with front quartet Cunha, Paqueta, Raphinha and Vinicius Jr. SAO PAULO – PINHEIROSA few days earlier, Brazil faced Columbia in Maracanau and clinched a vital 1-0 victory thanks to Paqueta’s second-half goal. Along with him, the table-toppers attacked the rivals with the forward trio Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Raphinha. Once more, Coutinho witnessed the game without engaging for a single minute on the pitch.The days of his formidable displays at Anfield and with the Selecao are long gone. Coutinho has transformed himself into one sad, lonely traveller. A tourist rather than an exquisite footballer.
