After being left out of Liverpool’s last three matches, it seems Philippe Coutinho is finally getting close to his full recovery.
The player has joined the Brazilian national team squad this week, and is working to be able to play in at least one match with the yellow jersey.
Brazil are facing Japan in Paris on Friday, and they take on England at Wembley on Tuesday. The expectation is that he will be ready only for the second game.
Speaking to Globo Esporte this Monday, doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said: “Coutinho had a muscle injury on the adductor of the left thigh. He’s in the final stage of recovery, we knew that he would not be in full condition, but we chose to make a final recovery with us.
“The possibility of playing against Japan is remote, but we work to make him available against England. He may not be able to play. If he does, he can stay on the bench and play for a few minutes. It’s a small chance. Our focus is to get him back for the second game.
“Coutinho felt nothing, it was what we imagined, tomorrow (Tuesday) will do a little more intense physical work. If all goes well, he will start working with ball on Wednesday.”
This is the second time the midfielder misses a sequence of games for Liverpool due to injury this season. The player had some back problems in August, which left him out of six matches for the Reds.
But that wasn’t a problem for him to play with the national team, and that’s why some serious doubts were raised, especially with Barcelona trying to encourage Liverpool to sell the player.
