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Neymar spoke of Philippe Coutinho's "great sadness" at missing out on a move to Barcelona after the Liverpool attacker enjoyed a triumphant return to action for Brazil.

Coutinho proved that he's recovered from the mysterious back injury which kept him sidelined during his unsuccessful attempts to force through a transfer to the Catalan giants.

The 25-year-old, who hasn't played since the Reds' pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich on August 1, came off the bench for the final half hour of Brazil's 2-0 win over Ecuador in their World Cup qualifier in Porto Alegre.

After Paulinho had opened the scoring with 20 minutes to go, Coutinho showed why Liverpool have fought so hard to keep him this summer by wrapping up the points in style.

Coutinho burst forward before clipping a delightful pass towards Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City forward nodded the ball back into the path of Coutinho, who produced a clinical side-footed finish from seven yards out.

His team-mate Neymar, who left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, said: "I'm very happy that he scored a goal because at this moment he lives a very great sadness.

"He helped us to the victory. He's a great player and did very well when he came on.

(Image: Lucas Uebel/Getty Images)

"We were calm and patient. It was a different game to the ones we had before as they sat deep. This team is looking increasingly better at everything and we will grow more."

Victory guaranteed top spot for Brazil in the South American qualifying section.

They face Colombia on Tuesday night before Coutinho returns to Liverpool to be reintegrated into Jurgen Klopp's squad.