Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain showed some true class on and off the pitch today.
The Liverpool midfielder was good enough to be named Man of the Match in a 4-0 win, even though he didn’t score, such was the high level of his general play.
After the game, the Ox joined Philippe Coutinho in front of the Sky Sports cameras for the post-match interview. After offering their assessment of the team’s performance, you could feel what the next question was going to be.
Sky Sports’ Patrick Davison turned to Coutinho and asked:
“Philippe, one cheeky one for you at the end, there’s so much speculation about you. How desperate are you to stay a part of this Liverpool team, the way you are playing, at least until the end of the season?”
Coutinho’s response was pretty much as diplomatically vague as you’d expect.
“I always say the same thing, that I try to enjoy the moment and I like to play football and I just try to enjoy the moment…”
Before the playmaker could say anything further, his teammate threw his arm around him and finished the question off for him by saying:
“He’s a Liverpool player right now and he’s doing really well for us,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.
“He’s been the most professional person I’ve seen all season and he’s been top quality from the start and he always gives his all for the club.
“That’s the most important thing. It’s not fair, those kinds of questions I don’t think. He gives us his all and that’s all we can ask from him.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Qk1bjYmLc
Sometimes you have to take a step back and say fair play. Coutinho was clearly struggling with the question. Everyone and their dog knows he is being courted by Barcelona and, considering English isn’t his first language, he was always going to feel under pressure being asked about his future. Oxlade-Chamberlain helped him out and did so with tact, class and a level head.
That’s what teammates are for. Oxlade-Chamberlain has gone up in our books after that.
