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Messi and Coutinho giving Koeman's new-look Barcelona early hope

At one stage, both Lionel Messi and Philippe Coutinho probably didn't see themselves playing for Barcelona this season, but they now look set to star for the club moving forward.

The attacking duo have ensured a smooth start to Ronald Koeman's tenure as manager as they played key roles in comfortable pre-season friendly wins.

Over the weekend, Coutinho struck from the spot in a 3-0 win over Tarragona before he backed that up on Wednesday with a simple finish to open the scoring against Girona.

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The Brazilian's opening goal was the product of a fine team move designed by Messi, who found Francisco Trincao expertly with a through ball into the box which allowed the youngster to square a ball across goal for Coutinho.