Marquinhos, Paris Saint-Germain’s 30-year-old defender and captain, stopped off in the mixed zone after Tuesday’s 0-3 win over Brest (video highlights Brest/PSG) at the Stade du Roudourou in the Champions League 2024-2025 play-offs. He spoke of his 100th European Cup appearance.
Marquinhos “It was a special feeling for me the 100ᵉ”
It was your 100th Champions League match tonight to surpass yourself individually collectively how do you explain it ?
It was a special feeling for me the 100ᵉ it makes me remember everything that happened here, the good times the difficult times too. All those moments got us this far. It’s a pleasure and I’m very happy with the gift the team has given me, a good victory.
Even if the match was difficult, even if the result doesn’t really show what happened in the game, I think we overcame some obstacles when we were up against a very good Brest team. We were effective and that made all the difference to the result.
Marquinhos: “He’s a different player”.
How do you explain Dembélé’s transformation with this ultra-efficiency in just a few weeks ?
When we talk about efficiency, we’re also talking about Ousmane. I think he’s found a good position and it’s working well with the qualities he’s got. He’s a different player, different when he plays in the middle of the pitch, in the middle, that’s when you get to see the real qualities of his players.
I think that’s what the coach also saw in Ousmane’s qualities. He’s an admirer of the player, and so are we as a team. I also think it’s confidence, and when confidence is there, you can’t let it go, because we know how difficult it is to regain.
He’s got confidence at the moment, the whole team has confidence and I think we’ve worked hard for that to arrive at this moment with a good state of mind, with efficiency, with everything we need to go far in all competitions.
Marquinhos “The club and I have a great history together”.
Do you remember your first match in the Champions League ?
Olympiakos, I scored a goal and we won. It was a great experience, but I wasn’t expecting to play. I think someone was injured, I don’t remember if it was Thiago or Alex.
I had the chance to play. A lot of things have happened, I was 19, now I’m 30, there’s been a real change too, I’m very happy with everything we’ve spent here together. The club and I have a great history together.