5 dribbles won, 81 touches – Liverpool’s rare shining light against Real Madrid

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Philippe Coutinho could arguably have done as much damage as his Real Madrid counterparts with a better quality of team-mates around him.

If Liverpool fans were looking for positives after their side’s 3-0 humbling at the hands of the European champions last night, there were two really.

One: this was Real Madrid. It doesn’t get much better than them.

And two: FC Basel also lost against Ludogorets, meaning three sides are on three points on Champions League Group B – giving the Reds a reasonable chance of still progressing from the group stage.

In terms of individual performances, though, there were a couple of, shall we say, half-positives. Raheem Sterling played well and Adam Lallana was encouraging when he came on, showing a level of fearlessness against the reigning champions. And then there was Philippe Coutinho.

As Opta stats show, the Brazilian produced another fine performance to add to his match-winning cameo against Queens Park Rangers. With five dribbles won, Coutinho was better at taking on his man than any other player on the pitch.

His 81 touches were the second-best within Brendan Rodgers’ side and his tally of successful final-third passes was, again, the best of anyone on the pitch.

He did only create one chance, however, suggesting that Madrid’s world-class forwards may have completed less passes in the final third but done more with them.

The 22-year-old, though, clearly did well – even compared to those that were on the winning side. The fact that he was not a game-changer is very much attributable to the fact that he was up against Real.

And perhaps a better class of team-mates could have seen Coutinho thrive, just as Luis Suarez had done and Daniel Sturridge can when fit.

After all, if Coutinho had Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and more alongside him, he probably would have created 10 chances and got himself one or two assists.