Rio De Janeiro, Mar 31 (IANS): Barcelona attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho returned to his native Brazil for treatment on his troublesome left knee.

The 28-year-old Coutinho has not played since suffering lateral meniscus damage in Barcelona's 1-1 home draw with Eibar on December 29, Xinhua news reports.

He underwent arthroscopic surgery in January but has not recovered as the Catalan club's medical staff had hoped.

"The first team player Philippe Coutinho [is] to travel to Brazil for a medical treatment on his knee injury," Barcelona said in a brief statement.

Last week, the former Liverpool No. 10 travelled to Qatar to seek the opinion of specialists at the Aspetar sports medicine hospital in Doha.

Coutinho has played 14 matches for Barcelona since returning from a season-long loan with Bayern Munich last September.

In total, the Rio de Janeiro-born playmaker has made 90 first-team appearances for the Blaugrana, scoring 24 goals.