As Bayern Munich launches its Champions League campaign against Red Star Belgrade tonight, Bavarian hopes of reclaiming European club football\u2019s top prize to a large extent on the shoulders of Philippe Coutinho.
\nFollowing seven semi-final appearances in the last decade, the former Liverpool\u2019s midfielder has been hailed as the man who can take Bayern the extra step in European football\u2019s flagship competition this season.
\nLast season\u2019s defeat to Liverpool in the last 16 sparked fears that Bayern\u2019s Champions League aura was fading.
\nThe departure of veteran stars such as Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben seemed to confirm the end of an era, but Coutinho\u2019s arrival on loan from Barcelona has prompted fresh hope that Bayern can be restored as one of the continent\u2019s most feared sides.
\n\u201cThere are always big expectations at Bayern and of course the Champions League is a goal,\u201d said Coutinho at his unveiling in August.
\nMany believe that the 27-year-old can inspire Bayern to their first Champions League title since 2013.
\nEarlier this month, his Brazil team-mate and Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson told German newspaper Bild that Coutinho\u2019s arrival put Bayern among the title favourites this season.
\nFellow Bayern midfielder Corentin Tolisso echoed that sentiment in an interview with Sky last month, saying that the loan signings of Coutinho and Croatian winger Ivan Perisic would be decisive for Bayern.
\n\u201cBefore those two arrived, we didn\u2019t necessarily have a team that was capable of winning the treble,\u201d said Tolisso.
\n\u201cWith this team, we can go very far in the Champions League. I think the title is possible.\u201d
\nSuch expectations could weigh heavy on Coutinho, who is looking to reboot his career after struggling to hold down a first-team spot in a year and a half at Barcelona.
\nHis price tag is also a potential burden. Though Bayern paid a loan fee of just 8.5 million euros ($9.5m) to secure his services, German media estimate Coutinho\u2019s wages at around 13 million euros a year after tax, which would make him the highest-paid player in the Bayern dressing room.
\n\u201cThose things don\u2019t bother me. I want to enjoy being on the pitch, play in big games and win titles. The numbers are just a side note for me,\u201d Coutinho told TideSports source last week.
\nThe Brazilian has charmed the Munich press so far, promising to learn German and speaking in glowing terms of the welcome he has received at Bayern.
\nHe told Sport Bild that he hoped to emulate the sort of form which once made him a fan favourite at Liverpool.
\n\u201cI have noticed in my first few games for Bayern that football here is very intense like it is in England. Much more so than in Spain and Brazil. That is good for me,\u201d he said.
\nCoutinho even claimed he could imagine staying longer at Bayern if the club were to win the Champions League this season.
\n\u201cThat is a big dream for me, similar to winning the World Cup,\u201d he said.
\nYet it remains early days for Coutinho, who has made just one start for Bayern in three Bundesliga appearances so far.
\nHe played just 10 minutes in last Saturday\u2019s 1-1 draw at RB Leipzig, with Thomas Mueller preferred in the starting line-up.
\nCoach Niko Kovac insisted that Coutinho needed time to recover after returning from Brazil following the international break.
\n\u201cHe only had 72 hours recovery time. He will definitely play in the next few games,\u201d said Kovac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Bayern Munich launches its Champions League campaign against Red Star Belgrade tonight, Bavarian hopes of reclaiming European club football\u2019s top prize to a large extent on the shoulders of Philippe Coutinho. Following seven semi-final appearances in the last decade, the former Liverpool\u2019s midfielder has been hailed as the man who can take Bayern the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26,13],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-215030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix","category-sports","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/215045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}