Barcelona’s Coutinho needs surgery on injured knee

Barcelona said Wednesday that Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho must undergo surgery after suffering a knee injury.

Spanish club said in a statement that Coutinho h injured “ lateral meniscus” of his left knee and it will require “arthroscopic surgery”.

Coutinho, 28, was hurt in final minutes of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Eibar after he came on in second half.

He became Barcelona’s most expensive signing when it paid Liverpool 160 million euros ($192 million) in Jan. 2018.

But after a disappointing season-and-a-half Coutinho was loaned to Bayern Munich. He helped German club win Champions League earlier this year and scored two goals in an 8-2 rout of Barcelona in quarterfinals.

He returned to his parent club this season and has scored three goals.

Barcelona has alrey lost forward Ansu Fati and Gerard Pique to serious injuries this season. team is struggling and has slipped to sixth in Spanish league.

Im credits: AP