Philippe Coutinho’s marriage to loving wife Aine that is often labelled the Nou Camp’s “great love story”. Through nearly every step of his career, they have been together. Not even a brief spell living apart when the £145million man was on loan at Espanol could throw their relationship off track..
Philippe, 25, and 24-year-old Aine met in 2007 when the promising footballer was just 14 and they grew up together in Brazil’s capital Rio de Janeiro. A mutual friend introduced them to each other at a party and they began dating, living together under the same roof as Philippe’s mum Esmerelda and dad Jose.
Aine would travel with him watching every game. Philippe signed for Internazionale in 2008 before returning to Vaso de Gama for two season. It is also believed that when Philippe went back to Italy in 2010 Aine stopped her studies and went with him. Apparently they were forced to live apart for a short while when he went on loan to Espanol in 2012 but later married that same year.
When Philippe signed for Liverpool in 2013 they moved there together. Although the forward’s struggle to break into the first team meant Aine had to sit in the stands with everyone else to watch him play!
Philippe once said: “Aine plays a huge part in everything I do. We didn’t study together, we didn’t really have mutual friends, except for one, who had a party and we both went to it. We met there and sat together for a long time just talking. She asked me to be her boyfriend. There wasn’t really a moment where we were like, ‘OK we are together now.”
He now dedicates every goal celebration to her, blowing kisses in her direction.