PSG/Tottenham – Marquinhos in press conference: "I'm still hungry" | OneFootball

On Wednesday, during the 1st day of the 2025 European Super Cup, Paris Saint-Germain will face Tottenham at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine (kick-off at 9pm, broadcast on Canal+). On the eve of this match, Parisian defender and captain Marquinhos (31 years old) answered several questions at a press conference.

Marquinhos "We need to work even harder"

You're starting a season with a big target on your head, you're a leader, and how are you going to fight and stay at the same level?

I think it's really enjoyable to start a season like this as the winner of the last Champions League. It's the first match and it's a final, a European Super Cup, it's really enjoyable. It's the first time I'm going to experience this as a Paris Saint-Germain player and I want to live moments like this in the coming seasons. I think we are competitors and we don't have a final goal in our career, we should always want to win, string together victories and win even more. We need to work even harder and that's what we do as a group, as a club. There's a lot to go for, winning once is very good and winning again must be wonderful. Very few teams have managed to do that and that's our goal this season. We want to keep PSG at this same level and continue to fight for trophies for the title.

Marquinhos "It's nice that people talk about me, but the most important thing is the collective awards"

How do you feel?

It's enjoyable, I've had difficult seasons and to start again after such seasons, I can tell you it's even harder. Starting again after winning and after stringing together good matches, it's a good motivation for me as a captain and player and one of the most experienced in this dressing room. I try to motivate myself in the best way until I win, and when I win I want to strive for even more the next day. I want to leave my name in the history of the club even more and that's what we're going to try to do here tomorrow, we have an opportunity. I think that last season, we had some very good moments, but also some more difficult ones. We lost this final. We know the two feelings, of having won and having lost. This feeling of having good moments after the match is the one we want to have. On my non-nomination for the Ballon d'Or, the collective is the most important. I'm reaching an age, I was already in the 30s when I hadn't won the Champions League, between a Champions League victory and nomination in the 30s for the Ballon d'Or I choose the Champions League. It's nice that people talk about me, but the most important thing is the collective awards.

Marquinhos "The captain and the players who are next to him, the most experienced ones have this important role"

How do you advise players like Lucas Chevalier? On his first steps in recent days?

We know that the captain has an important role for the player who arrives. There have been captains who have been very important to me when I arrived. I want to play a role and always go towards the player to show him that he should not hesitate to ask and that we are here to help him. We want to put him in the best possible situation and the player to feel at home, like at home so that he can play his best football. We have a coach who has a very demanding football, we know that it's very difficult for a new player who arrives and sees all this. He's not used to it and it can be difficult. The captain and the players who are next to him, the most experienced ones have this important role. We try to put them in the best possible conditions, talk to them, ask them if they need anything, explain a little what the coach wants and what he doesn't want. We need to talk to them about PSG, the club, the collective, it's always the most important. That's our focus and that's how we won and that's how we're going to continue. That way they can immediately get into the philosophy and into the group.

Marquinhos "One day, I will leave too. I hope to leave in the best possible conditions"

Are you affected by the absence of Donnarumma after the season you spent together?

Yes, it's always difficult, as I said in the other interviews I've done. I've seen players who have experienced the same thing. But we've already seen players during the transfer window who have to choose, or leave, our life as a footballer, that's it. We, as players, what we can do, is to give our maximum while we are here until the last minute. That's what we have to do, and that's what we ask of all the players who are here. One day, I will leave too. I hope to leave in the best possible conditions but players leave and the club remains. The history, it will remain engraved, both for Gigio and for others, they have engraved the history of the club, and I am very proud of what they have achieved. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts, we don't know yet if he's going to leave or if he's going to stay. If he stays, we will welcome him with open arms in the best possible way. What he did last season was incredible. It's thanks to him that we reached the final and won this title. We have to thank him for all the work he has done. If he has to leave, we thank him from the bottom of our hearts, he's a great friend, a very good person and a very important person in the dressing room. That's football, that's how it is and there have been many other names of players who have left and who have hurt me. Players leave, days arrive, that's the life of the club and that's how it is, we have to give our maximum while we're here.

Marquinhos "he won't let us fall into the winner's trap"

How do you feel at this point in your career?

I am very proud and very happy to be here and to live this moment and to have another opportunity to win a trophy. It's going to be a very difficult trophy because we are two teams living very different moments. We're coming back after just one week of work even if we worked during the holidays. Tottenham is in better physical condition. We haven't lost everything, I saw it in training, the quality in training, the passes, the combinations, the finishing. Even if we're not at our physical peak, there will be a very high level team on the pitch tomorrow. We're going to fight for this title and we're going to give our all. If we can give 50, 60 minutes, we'll see tomorrow. Those who will come in, they will maintain the level, and they will try to go for this result. After all these seasons at PSG winning this Champions League makes me really happy, but I'm still hungry and I want to go for more and help the new ones who will arrive. Even those who won very young, I still want to motivate them and help them move forward. We have a coach who is very demanding, he won't let us fall into the winner's trap. And he will motivate me again, he will push us and that's how we will get into the conditions for tomorrow.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.