Philippe Coutinho reveals how Thiago helped him adjust to life at Bayern Munich

Philippe Coutinho has settled in quite well already at Bayern Munich after making the one-year loan move from Barcelona. He’s already grown close to the other players in the squad despite not knowing any German and predominantly speaking Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

In a recent interview captured by SportBild, Coutinho revealed that Thiago Alcantara has helped him adjust to life at Bayern a great deal. In addition to some of the staff members that speak Spanish and Portuguese, he said, the Spanish midfielder has helped him acclimate and has even started helping him learn German:

Thiago is Brazilian and speaks Portuguese. He helped me very much on the first days, especially with respect to communication. German is fricking hard! But I’ve resolved to learn a bit. A few staff members speak Spanish; that made it easy.

The Brazilian currently lives with his family at a hotel in Munich. As a result, he’s more exposed to fan and media attention in the city, especially in comparison to his time at Liverpool and Barcelona. Coutinho had his own private home in England and Spain, something that helped him stay isolated from the outside world off the pitch.

Coutinho feels that Munich has a pronounced family atmosphere:

Everything here is very familial. I know that from Liverpool too a little bit, but things are even more familial here.

Additionally, Coutinho said he really appreciates the kindness and generosity of the fans when he goes to sign autographs between training sessions, before and after matches, and at other team events; it’s something he says he really enjoys doing, and he doesn’t see it as a nuisance. Coutinho said he felt more than welcome when he arrived at Bayern for his first official training session with the club:

I think it’s really good. The fans were incredibly nice to me. It’s super to feel this positive energy of theirs right up close. A big number of children are always there; I see the their eyes beaming and that makes me happy.

Hopefully the quick acclimation to life in Munich will translate to some solid performances on the pitch for Bayern. He’s shown great flashes in his first couple of appearances for the club, but the best is surely yet to come.