Ahead of tomorrow’s Matchday 3 of the 2025 Club World Cup group stage at Lumen Field against the Seattle Sounders (kick-off 9pm CET, broadcast on DAZN), Marquinhos, Paris Saint-Germain’s 31-year-old defender and captain, spoke to the media. He spoke about the state of mind in the squad and the decisive match for qualification to the Round of 8.
Marquinhos “be even more demanding with yourself.”
Decompression in the group?
What counts, when you achieve a goal you have, is to be even more demanding with yourself. You’ve set yourself such a goal, you’ve worked so hard for it, and when you’ve succeeded, we’ve seen a lot of people talking about the difficulties they’ve had after becoming champion. That’s what I’m working on in my head today, to motivate myself and keep going. Even if I’ve achieved this goal.
There are a lot of great things to achieve in soccer, apart from being champion. That’s what I’m trying to do for PSG, for this shirt, for the club, for the group. As captain, I’m always very demanding. It was a great moment. Now we’re in a competition and we have to think about that right away. It’s a great trophy to go and win.
We’ve got an important match ahead of us, and there’s no time to get carried away. We’re here, and that’s what we’re focusing on today.
Marquinhos “it’s a bit like our season, with ups, downs and extremes.”
Is this a surprising situation that could give cause for concern?
I think what we’re going through today is a bit like our season, with ups, downs and extremes. That’s what we’ve experienced this season. When we started out, we didn’t have the best results in the Champions League. Then we qualified at the last minute. Then we manage to become champions.
Marquinhos “it’s a bit like our season, with ups, downs and extremes.”
Is this a surprising situation that could cause concern?
I think what we’re experiencing today is a bit like our season, with ups, downs and extremes. That’s what we’ve experienced this season. When we started out, we didn’t have the best results in the Champions League. Then we qualified at the last minute. Then we manage to become champions.
Here at the Club World Cup, we played a very good match against Atlético, we were very effective, and that changes the results and the shape of the match. Against Botafogo, we didn’t succeed and they were very effective. It was a bit like our season.
We’re not surprised, because you have to live with the moment you have. We’ve got a little final to play, we’ve got this match to go and get. The 3 points will be very important.
