Lionel Messi news: Barca captain explains why he handed over the penalty against Sevilla to Philippe Coutinho
What's the story?
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has revealed why he chose to hand over his penalty to teammate Philippe Coutinho during their 6-1 rout of Sevilla in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.
In case you didn't know...
La Liga table-toppers Barcelona went into the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals as surprising underdogs following Sevilla's 2-0 win over them in the first leg.
However, if there's one team to overturn a two-goal deficit, it is the Blaugrana. An early Coutinho penalty opened the banks for the Catalan giants as Messi graciously gave away his spot-kick to the former Liverpool star, who promptly converted it.
Ivan Rakitic scored a second goal which was followed by two others, only a minute apart, from Coutinho and Sergi Roberto. The goal-fest was capped off by a Luis Suarez effort and a late Messi goal.
The holders thereby secured a 6-3 aggregate victory, firing them straight to the semi-finals of the Cup.
The heart of the matter
Messi has explained the reason behind the penalty gift to Coutinho, who has been out of form recently, stating that he was happy to let the Brazilian take the spot-kick.
According to Sport English, the Argentine ace said, "Coutinho had scored a penalty against Levante and he wanted to take it."
"We talked about it. So he took it and I am happy because the comeback started there."
Meanwhile, Coutinho was quick to thank his captain for the gesture, saying (via Goal), "The penalty has come naturally. Leo’s gesture shows how great it is."
"Thanks to Leo, for letting me kick the penalty, that’s good for the confidence of the group. We knew that to overcome, we had to be involved from the beginning."
What's next?
Barcelona is next scheduled to face Valencia in La Liga on Saturday night.