The Parisian captain speaks at a press conference on the eve of PSG-Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final return on Tuesday (9 p.m.).
The differences between his first halves of C1 and this one in preparation
“Every season, every match has its story. But there is all the experience we can take with us. This experience is important in football, to have players who have had key moments, decisive moments. In the locker room, we are very well served in this area… The coach also has this experience, he knows how to prepare very well for this type of key match, a match which can result in a qualification like that. A Champions League semi-final isn’t every year… I’ve been here for 11 years and this is only my third time. It’s the kind of game we like to have the opportunity to play. This is why you have to motivate yourself with good energy in order to have a very good match.”
The importance of the Parc des Princes for Tuesday
“We know the importance of playing at home, with our supporters, our energy. This is also why there is a lot of confidence before tomorrow’s match. We know that they can change a match, with their songs, their energy and above all, before the match, by providing the necessary motivation and energy. Football has an impact on the lives of many people. I come from Brazil. And there, football is very important for our people, our lives. In Paris, there is also this passion for football. Tomorrow (Tuesday), there will be a lot of people who will be behind us to push us to have a good match. That’s why it’s very important to play at the Park.”
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Marquinhos Stephanie Lecocq / REUTERS
The ingredients to win
“We will have a strategy in place. We are not going to mention it here in front of the cameras (smile). But we have to play according to our plan, our ideas, those that we have had since the start of the season, namely controlling the ball, doing what is necessary to have a good match, having the possibility of creating chances, as we did in the second half in Dortmund. It’s the details that make the difference in this kind of match. We talked a lot, worked a lot, targeted the details to improve. I think that, tomorrow (Tuesday), everyone will be ready and aware of what we will have to do on the pitch to have a great match and win.
Parisian serenity
“Against Barça, we kept our calm. It is important. The coach insists a lot, reminding us that a match lasts 95, 100 minutes, even 120 tomorrow. We have to be emotionally ready for all moments in a match, continue with our idea, our strategy, plan A, plan B, know what we have to do on the pitch. This is what gives confidence and calm to the team. This is exactly what happened in Barcelona. We were in the match. We weren’t in difficulty, we scored a goal but we continued with the same energy, the same idea, the same commitment. Preparing throughout the season helps. The preparation for the match during the week, the speech from the coach, the executives… Everything that is outside the four lines of the pitch helps. There is also the evolution of the club, which is growing. All of this can help on the ground. (…) We don’t know what will happen in the match, we don’t know the final result. But the confidence comes from the work of the whole season, from the fact that we know what we can do and what the supporters will do, the energy on the pitch, in the stadium, the city… I don’t think not that this confidence is linked to the result. Having prepared in the best way all week, having this energy, this confidence in the work, that’s what gives us this confidence for the match. He is a great opponent, I am sure that it will be a very complicated match, a match that will be decided on the details, but confidence comes from preparation, from work, from the certainty that the supporters will have a great party and that ‘They will push us to the end. This is what we have been doing since the start of the season and it is not now that we are going to want to change everything, have a new idea of the game. We are going to focus on the details and try to play the best match possible, that’s why there is this confidence.”
Marquinhos Stephanie Lecocq / REUTERS
The youngest team still competing in C1
“An advantage ? For now, it works very well. The coach likes that, he likes to have this mix of experience and youth. He is a coach who asks a lot, who is real with the players. Even those who are still young and have not played much in C1 have this confidence from the coach, like everyone else, and this confidence in the work we have to do. Work that is carried out throughout the season. That’s why there is this tranquility, this confidence, because we know what we have to do on the ground. There are players who have a lot of experience in the Champions League and others who have less, but when they come in, they play with great quality, and that’s what makes a team strong. Tomorrow, we don’t know who will be on the field. Lucas Hernandez is injured. Others will return. They will do the best job possible and that is what makes us strong, the strength of a whole group, what has allowed us to get here.”
SEE ALSO – Mbappé and the Parisians in training before PSG-Dortmund on Tuesday in the C1 semi-final return
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Words between the players after the match and during the week
“I can’t tell you (smile). These are locker room things. What I can tell you is that we are very sincere between us, we immediately tried to motivate each other, to re-mobilize ourselves straight away. Right after the match, we already knew what we could do better, we discussed the details, the important things that were happening, the ideas. The next day and during the week, the coach frames us with these ideas, he shows videos to highlight what we can do better, the strategy, what we will have to focus on in the return match, and that’s what that happened this week.”
“Everything I have done is very beautiful, it remains in history, it is an experience that serves me. But it happened. It’s behind. »
Marquinhos
The most important match of his career
“For me, the next match is always the most important of my career. This is how I think, how I think about myself, how I focus. Everything I have done is very beautiful, it remains in history, it is an experience that serves me. But it happened. It’s behind. You have to show your potential every day, show that you are there, 100%, because football goes so quickly in both directions that you always have to concentrate on the next match. We know the importance of the next match. All the next matches will be the most important of my career.
Words to help young people
“When I was younger, I arrived in a team with a lot of management, confidence, a clear idea. When young people arrive in a team like this, they are free to work, progress and do their best on the pitch and that’s what they do. The coach has complete confidence in their work, which is why he does not hesitate to put them on the pitch, in C1, in Ligue 1, in the Coupe de France. Regardless of the opponent, he trusts the young people and his players. If he puts someone on the field, it’s because he has confidence in him. It’s the same for executives. Warren Zaire-Emery? We’ve known him for years. Bradley Barcola arrived this season but has already shown his quality and all the other young people who have come up this year, all those who are there can enter the field, including in a match like tomorrow, relying on the frames and the collective idea, all the tactical work. Everyone knows what they have to do on the pitch, the most experienced, the youngest, everyone is well prepared, the coach has done it very well all season to get to this point. This is why they are also calm and serene to play a very good match.
PSG turned towards the collective this season
“The right path for the future? The team will always be the most important aspect in football. Successful teams are those that have a very strong collective. PSG builds on this. It’s not really that we have a stronger team this year, that there wasn’t this cohesion, this desire to win, to get far in the Champions League. There are ideas, players who have left and others who have arrived, like every year. Football is like that. There are new coaches, new management arriving, players too. But the most important thing is always to keep this culture of the club, of the collective. No matter which players arrive or leave, they will be calm and will arrive in an already strong club and collective. When the collective is doing well, individuals cope more easily.”
Comparison with the 2019-20 team, finalist in C1
“It’s hard to make comparisons between seasons, teams, players… This season, there is really a great experience, we know what happened in 2019-20, we unfortunately lost (against the Bayern), but we had a very good run, which remained engraved in the memory of all Parisians. For my part, it remained engraved in mine. It was also a special season for what was happening in the world (Covid). We are in another moment, with other qualities, it is a match at home when there were no fans (in the round of 16 second leg and in the Final 8), with dry matches (at Final 8)… It was really very different. But once again, we must always maintain the culture of the collective and individuals will cope very easily. This season, we have this confidence, this great hope of winning titles. We rely above all on work, group cohesion, the desire to do things for each other. This is very important in a key match, a semi-final. We will have to bring out all these things that can bring us to the final and after that, the judgment, I leave it to you to compare the seasons, the teams, the players… We, the players, always have this great hope of doing great things . Tomorrow, we will have this beautiful hope and this confidence.”
Comments collected at a press conference
