Following all the discussions in the past few weeks regarding the possible presence of Aston Villa midfielder Philippe Coutinho at the World Cup, on Monday came confirmation the player is not going to the tournament in Qatar.
Regardless of deserving a spot or not, it had already been reported that due to a thigh injury which left him out of the match against Manchester United at the weekend, he wouldn’t be ready for the competition. That was later detailed in the press conference that the national team staff held to announce the list.
It was first Tite who talked about the situation, claiming he’d have liked Coutinho to be in the squad. He confirmed that the information about the injury came from the weekend, when national team staff were in England to see a few games and the midfielder did not feature for Aston Villa.
“I spoke to him yesterday, he was very, very shaken, very sad,” said Mahseredjian (via Globo Esporte).
“Me and all of us stayed, the pain passes to us. It was the feeling I had, how much we like him, as an athlete and as a person. A hug to him, and we should talk to him again in the next few days.”
