Coutinho: I saw De Gea and thought to myself 'Why not?'
Philippe Coutinho has revealed the words running through his mind as he bore down on David de Gea at Old Trafford on Thursday night were simply: ‘Why not?’
The Brazil playmaker netted a memorable solo goal in first-half stoppage-time to put Liverpool 3-1 ahead on aggregate after Anthony Martial had given Manchester United hope by scoring from the penalty spot.
Footage has since emerged online of Coutinho producing a similar effort in training for Inter Milan four years ago – and the man himself admits such memories were in his thoughts as he danced beyond Guillermo Varela to go clean through on De Gea.
He told UEFA.com: "I had the chance to be face to face with De Gea and I've tried this kind of thing before in training, so I thought 'why not?’.
"Luckily, it came off. You could say that this was one of my best goals in a Liverpool shirt, but once again, all that counts is the team, and this evening the team performed at a very high level, creating several chances and showing how strong we are.
"Our morale is really high due to the 10 games without losing [in the Europa League] and this success against Manchester United, after a good game at home last week. We are building confidence to achieve big things for the club."