Jurgen Klopp believes that Liverpool have coped well with the departure of Philippe Coutinho, despite admitting that they still ‘miss’ the Barcelona playmaker.
Klopp and Coutinho will be reunited for the first time on Wednesday night since the player’s £142million move to the Camp Nou in January of last year.
The Brazil international has struggled at times to live up to his hefty transfer fee and could be overlooked by head coach Ernesto Valverde on Wednesday night.
Coutinho is competing with Ousmane Dembele for a place in Barcelona’s front three, alongside Lionel Messi and another Liverpool old boy Luis Suarez.
But Klopp declared on Tuesday night that Coutinho is still a player of the highest quality, whose talents are missed at Anfield.
“I know a lot of people make shit stories about that,” he said, when asked about Coutinho’s exit from Liverpool.
“Yes, we miss Phil Coutinho a lot. He is a world class player. I loved working together with him, but we had to deal without him and we did well. That’s all I can say.
“When I first heard he wanted to go to Barcelona, I can’t imagine we were that good with it. But all good for both sides.”
Liverpool play Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night, with the return leg at Anfield next week.
