Coutinho on his Firmino dance, improving under Klopp and LFC ambitions
Philippe Coutinho has explained why he and his young family believe Liverpool ‘feels like home’ to them as he outlined his determination to reward Reds fans for their support with trophies.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Liverpool Echo, the No.10 also lifted the lid on the story behind his goal celebration with Roberto Firmino against Hull City last week, picked out his favourite strike for the club so far and revealed why he feels Jürgen Klopp has taken his game to the next level…
On life in Liverpool…
Liverpool feels like my home. I feel happy, settled and comfortable here with the city and the people. It’s an amazing city. I enjoy going to the cinema with my wife and to restaurants in town. The supporters are very nice. Hearing people singing my name, it inspires me. The fans here make me feel amazing. They give all the players confidence. They are there for us in every game.
On his ambitions at Liverpool…
What I really want is to lift the trophies for this club. That’s the most important thing. You want to look back at the end of your career and think about what you have won. We have been so close but we don’t want this anymore. We don’t want to just go close. We want to take that next step. Every day we work hard in training to get there.
On working with Jürgen Klopp…
Jürgen has helped me to develop a lot as a player. I really enjoy working with this manager. He has given me a lot of confidence. The team plays differently now. We play high-pressure football. This style suits us and this manager is so important for Liverpool. I believe in this squad. The manager has changed a lot. He has changed the mentality of the group. We are in a good way. We have a good team, but we have to show it every day and in every game. We can’t look too far ahead. We have to take it step by step, game by game. Maybe at the end we can win.
On his goal celebration with Roberto Firmino against Hull…
It’s from a Brazilian song. It was Roberto’s idea. Before the game he said to me: ‘if either of us score today we should do this dance together.’ The song in Portuguese is called: fala aqui com a minha mao. In English it means: talk with my hands. It was a good moment for us together. We have a good understanding. I really enjoy playing with Roberto and we are close friends. We both speak Portuguese. The two of us, plus Lucas and Alberto [Moreno], spend time together away from football.
On Roberto Firmino…
Roberto is a top player. He works so hard to make the best of his ability every day. I knew Roberto from the national team. I knew that Liverpool had signed a player with real quality. He didn’t have many difficulties when he joined because he came from a very good league. He adapted very quickly to the demands of English football and everyone now sees how important he is for us. He’s helping this team a lot.
On his favourite Liverpool goal…
It’s not easy to pick one because every goal is so special to me. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of scoring. But if I had to pick one then I’d go for the goal at Old Trafford last season. That was a nice goal against United. It came at an important point in the game against one of our big rivals and it swung the tie in our favour. My wife was there watching and she told me that our supporters were singing my name throughout half-time. That was great to hear.