Barcelona News: Coutinho thanks Messi for his punitive gesture

Philippe Coutinho thanked Lionel Messi for allowing him to take a penalty to strengthen his self-confidence as Barcelona hammered Seville to reach the semifinals of the Copa del Rey.

Coutinho had a difficult season. Ernesto Valverde seemed to prefer Ousmane Dembele, but the tendon injury of the French winger opened the door to the Barca attack.

Coutinho took advantage of both hands on Wednesday in the second leg, scoring two goals as Barca accumulated even more miseries in Copa del Rey against Sevilla, which he had beaten 5-0 in the final. Last year.

Barca's 6: 1 victory helped Valverde close the 2-0 deficit in the first leg, but the captain was in form at Camp Nou.

And when Quincy Promes committed a foul on Messi, he allowed Coutinho to beat Juan Soriano and set the rout aside, with former Sevilla midfielder Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez, Sergi Roberto and Messi him -even.

"The penalty came naturally," Coutinho told Barca TV. "Leo's gesture shows how awesome he is.

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"Thanks to Leo for allowing me to score the penalty, it's good for the group's confidence.

"We knew that to win, we had to be involved from the start."

The Barca will join Real Betis and Valencia in the semifinals, be it Real Madrid or Girona, on Thursday.