Barcelona finds new 'Number 10'; Lionel Messi's jersey number passed on to THIS player

Barcelona seems to have officially moved on from Lionel Messi as they have a new number 10. Mid-fielder Phillipe Coutinho, who missed out on the opening match vs Real Sociedad on Sunday, has been appointed as the new number 10 for Barca. Regardless of fan theories suggesting Barcelona would find it difficult to move ahead of Messi, Barca dominated their opponents almost for the entirety of the match. They won the match 4-2, courtesy of the twin goals by Martin Braithwaite at the extra time of the first half and at the 59th minute of the game. 

No jersey for number 10 from Barca in the match vs Real Sociedad

Although Phillipe Coutinho missed the opening game, he is expected to don jersey number 10 for Barcelona. Before the match, Barcelona announced the squad against Real Sociedad won’t feature the infamous number 10 which was Messi’s identity for so many years. Messi, however, has chosen 30 as his jersey number for his new club, Paris Saint Germain. He is yet to reveal his decision of not choosing the number 10 for PSG as Neymar Jr had earlier made claims of being in talks with the team to give his former Barca teammate his legendary number 10. 

Barca’s head coach Ronald Koeman shared his thoughts on his team’s performance in the first game of the post-Lionel Messi Era. In the post-match conference, he said, “It was great to have our people in the stadium, they pushed us from the start and they were with the team, It's another world with fans, we enjoyed it. It seemed like there were more than 20,000. They helped us as we need to be strong at home. It was a fantastic match in every sense, for the fans, the play, the win”.

Barca players Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay impressed on their debut. Praising the debutants, Koeman added, “Memphis had a great game and provided a great assist. Garcia played very well, he was well-positioned. Safe. He made good decisions. Our defense was good, but we lacked concentration during some plays at the end of the match." He also admitted that the team would love to still have Messi around, but he displayed his delight about the team’s performance and also praised Martin Braithwaite for his twin goals, lauding him for setting an example for the team.

(Image Source- BARCAGALAXY-TWITTER/AP)