The Tottenham midfielder plans to shut
down his countryman with every bit as
much wariness as he would Luis Suarez,
and reveals how Lucas Leiva helped him
come back from injury
Tottenham midfielder Sandro believes
Philippe Coutinho is cut from the same
cloth as legendary Brazil international
Ronaldinho.
Coutinho made an instant impact at
Liverpool upon his arrival from Inter in
January, and is now back in the first
team following surgery on his shoulder.
Sandro will face the Reds playmaker at
White Hart Lane on Sunday, and insists
that he will be just as much of a threat
as the in-form Luis Suarez because of
his similarities to Ronaldinho, who won
the World Cup with Brazil and two
World Player of the Year titles while at
Barcelona.
He told the Daily Mirror: "With the ball,
Coutinho's passes are like Ronaldinho's.
He doesn't move a lot - but his passing!
You think he is going to pass here and
he passes there instead.
"He does the same as Ronaldinho. You
think he's going to do one thing and he
does something completely different.
He changes. Ronaldinho was the best
player but I think their style is similar.
I'm happy for him. He is young but he
[has started] good at Liverpool. It is
difficult to do that at Liverpool.
"Suarez is a great footballer and in a
great spell of form. He has scored a lot
of goals but we are going to push to
hold him and stop him.
We know he can
score wherever he is on the pitch. He
can do something out of nothing but it
is not just him. When Coutinho plays he
has a good pass on him and he is an
intelligent guy.
"It will be me or Etienne Capoue who
will try to stop Coutinho. I don't think a
lot before the game; just when I am
there, I want to stop him, stop his
freedom. If midfielders have freedom
they can do something to hurt you. I
want to be close to him and tackle him."
Further back in the Liverpool midfield
will be fellow Brazil international Lucas
Leiva and, though they are both in the
running for a World Cup 2014 squad
berth, Sandro feels no animosity as the
Reds star helped him through the
cruciate ligament injury that kept him
out for several months.
"It is difficult to say that Lucas is a 'rival'
for the World Cup because he is a close
friend," he remarked.
"When my knee
happened, Luca was the first guy who
called me because he had suffered the
same injury.
"Everyone knows it was a difficult
moment for me. When I came back to
training and games, I felt as though I
couldn't play. Everything was new for
me.
"Paulinho had come, Capoue too. I felt
like I had to play because, if I didn't, I
would lose my place, so it meant a lot to
me to even be on the bench, to run, to
take one tackle. My first start meant a
lot. Everything made me feel a little
better. Little things made me strong.
"I felt like I would come back but all the
time I thought: 'I don't know whether I
will be the same player' but now I am
better than before!"
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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