Coutinho strikes to ensure steady progress for Klopp

There were no over-the-top celebrations, no knee-sliding antics by the corner flag. There did not need to be. In the end, it was not that sort of game. 

What had threatened to become a nervy, jittery evening for the visitors, and a potentially memorable one for Louis van Gaal and Manchester United, changed irreversibly just before half-time. 

The brilliant Philippe Coutinho dashed away from Guillermo Varela, bamboozled David de Gea with an impudent finish and in an instant lanced all the tension that might otherwise have built inside Old Trafford. 

It is Liverpool who will take their place in the draw for the Europa League quarter-finals today. 

For Van Gaal this was a neat summation of a reign growing ever more complicated by the week, promising much when Anthony Martial halved the first-leg deficit from the penalty spot but, ultimately, yielding little. 

For all the focus on the lack of fight United had mustered at Anfield a week ago, it is the absence of real quality that continues to stymie efforts to convince. 

They ran harder, were crisper in their tackles, and yet when it came down it they still struggled to avoid the basic shortcomings anchoring their efforts to break free. 

Coutinho’s goal just before the break illustrated as much. It altered the complexion of the tie, and left United needing to plunder three more to progress. 

There should have been no real danger when Coutinho picked up Emre Can’s pass tight near the left touchline with seconds remaining in the first half. 

Where was United’s game management, having halved the deficit, to see it out and regroup for a second-half onslaught? 

Van Gaal will hardly have been able to believe what he saw. Coutinho attacked Varela, who back-peddled towards his own penalty area, and with a little shimmy of his hips ghosted beyond him as if he was not there to bear down on De Gea’s goal. 

This time there was nothing the Spaniard, who had consistently denied Coutinho over the course of the last-16 tie, could do to deny him. 

De Gea’s positioning looked suspect, but the stunning dinked finish was a delight. It was Messi-esque. 

Parity was, in truth, no more than Liverpool deserved with their constant raids brimming with menace. 

Daniel Sturridge had thudded a free-kick against the crossbar from wide on the right and Jordan Henderson should have found the top corner rather than the Stretford End after a one-two with Coutinho.

That chance came soon after United had given themselves hope. Jesse Lingard had been thwarted by Simon Mignolet with a powerful header in 18th minute, but it was just after the half-hour mark when they brought Old Trafford to its feet. 

Having won a penalty last week, Nathaniel Clyne clumsily conceded one here with an injudicious tackle on Martial. The Frenchman stepped forward to dispatch the spot-kick. 

But any hopes of a fightback were then extinguished by the brilliance of Coutinho. When United’s supporters see the stardust the Brazilian sprinkles, one second-half sortie saw more opponents trailing in his slipstream, it is not hard to imagine just what they are thinking. 

Marouane Fellaini was all elbows flailing and as a comparison it was striking. 

When Marcus Rashford cut the ball back to him in the 72nd minute, he carelessly lifted an effort over the crossbar and the groans which reverberated around the stadium spoke volumes.

United huffed and they puffed until the end, but everything was carried out in the knowledge that theirs was a hopeless task. It is the FA Cup or a second successive barren season for Van Gaal and United now. 

For Klopp, and Liverpool, it is onwards and upwards. 

Source: Daily Express

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