Kovac and the support for Philippe Coutinho in the face of criticism for performance in Bayern Munich [PHOTOS]

For a moment, Munich became Barcelona and the 'Bavarian' fans were as critical as the culés had been a few months earlier. The topic was the same: the drop or null performance of Philippe Coutinho, now at Bayern Munich, after a hopeful start, but which in recent matchdays has deepened to a level that concerns many, although not the team's head coach, Niko Kovac.

The former German footballer publicly supported his player and blurred the constant criticism that has been made in recent weeks. "He works very hard. He has had offensive bad luck, but I am very happy to be able to count on him," said the coach.

"Philippe is a player who always puts himself at the service of the team. Many people expect him to make magical gestures. In training, he never ceases to amaze us and sometimes we are breathless when we see what he can do with the ball," added the 'Bavarian' coach, who this season has won nine matches (five in the Bundesliga, one in the DFB Pokal and three in the Champions League).

Although his start to the season was promising based on what he showed in his first minutes as a 'Bavarian' player, Coutinho has statistics against him in terms of his production as a Bayern player, where his offensive contribution is insignificant.

Coutinho has only participated in six of the 35 goals that Bayern has scored in the 11 matches played with the team. A small contribution for a player who was paid 8.5 million euros for the loan and has a purchase option set at 120 million euros.

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