Marquinhos: 'I'm committed to helping build that collective identity' | OneFootball

With a few days to go until the first leg of his side’s UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against Liverpool, the Paris Saint-Germain captain gave an interview to UEFA about his roles both on and off the pitch, be it as a defender, as a captain or as a man.

OFF THE PITCH

HIS LEGACYThe legacy I’d like to leave when I finally leave Paris, is that the supporters are proud of me, and of everything I gave for the club, the city and for them. I think that’s the most important legacy I can leave; the idea that I helped the team the best I could. We have very ambitious goals and we have reached many of them. The club continues to grow. Players come and go but the club and the supporters will always be here.

THE SUPPORTERSI hope they remember me as someone who gave nearly all his career to this club, to this shirt, a player that they were proud to see on the pitch. I think that’s what they want, players that give everything, that are loyal to the club.BEING A ROLE MODELThat is one of my responsibilities. When you are a leader, the captain, when you have been at a club for 12 years, you can’t only think of yourself and forget everyone else. And I’m not only talking about the kids. It’s about everyone at the club, the staff, all the employees, everyone who works daily to make PSG a really big club. I am committed to this project, I wear the captain’s armband, to help this club  grow, to help build this collective identity.

ON THE PITCH

DEFENDMy first job, the most important thing for me as a defender, is that we don’t concede goals. That’s what I  have to do because I know my teammates have incredible quality in attack. If we don’t concede goals, as few as possible, we have a very good chance of scoring more than our opposition.SENSE OF ANTICIPATIONI think that comes with experience, my vision, and I think it’s one of my strengths. Because I’m not the biggest or most physical defender, I have to anticipate the opposition attacks with my positioning. I have to be in the right place at the right time…

COMMUNICATION ON THE PITCHI talk a lot. Sometimes at the end of a game I apologise to my teammates for talking so much! But communication is extremely important. Football is a team sport and I can’t walk onto the field and stay silent. I talk a lot with my partner in the centre of defence, I learnt that from Thiago Silva, and the others I played with before. All of that helped me a lot in my early career, so now I do the same thing and help others by communicating!HIS MOTIVATIONExperience is a great source of motivation. It helps you stay focused in the moment. The matches keep coming and your career continues. We never know what will be your last big game, your last big competition, your last season. So I play every season, every game, as if it was my last. That means always giving my maximum, and knowing that everyone can count on me. That’s what motivates me to always give my very best at every single training session, every single match.

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