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GIRONA, Spain — Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde backed Philippe Coutinho to find his shooting boots after the Brazil international missed two clear chances in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Girona.
Coutinho, Barca’s record €160 million signing, has struggled for form in recent months and was on the bench for four consecutive league games at the turn of the year.
An injury to Ousmane Dembele has given him a chance to stake his claim for a regular starting spot.
But he missed two one-on-ones — the first saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and the second cleared off the line by a defender — leaving him with six goals in 28 appearances this season.
“What I like about Coutinho is that he’s daring and he’s always prepared to take the opposition on,” Valverde told a news conference when asked whether he was worried about the former Liverpool man’s recent form.
“He makes things happen. After that, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t. He’s had good chances and the fact that he’s getting into those positions one-on-one with the goalkeeper is really good.
He’s not converted those chances this time — but he will.”
Barca restored their five-point lead at the top of the table thanks to goals from Nelson Semedo, his first for the club, and Lionel Messi.
It was a hard-fought win, with a red card for home defender Bernardo Espinosa and the introduction of Arthur Melo swinging the match in Barca’s favour before Messi’s brilliant chip wrapped up the points.
“We were having problems because Girona were pressing really high,” Valverde said. “Sometimes we weren’t able to break through their press — and losing the ball in those positions led to clear chances for them.
“When Arthur comes on, he has the capacity to keep the ball. They were also playing with 10 men at that point, so it was already a question of controlling the ball and looking for the free man. Arthur’s good at that.”
Barca face Sevilla in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal second leg on Wednesday, and are 2-0 down from the first leg.
“We’re going to focus on recovering and start thinking about Wednesday. Our intention is to get through,” Valverde said. “The other day we made changes in the first leg thinking of the Girona game.
“We have three games this week in six days, with a really important one against Valencia on Saturday, but it’s true that what interests us now is the Copa del Rey.”
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