Marquinhos has been pinpointed as a potential weak link in Paris Saint-Germain’s defence. This assessment comes ahead of the club’s showdown with FC Bayern Munich.
World Cup Winners Highlight Marquinhos’s Potential Weakness
Benedikt Höwedes stated that Marquinhos was the “main weak point” during the league campaign. Höwedes’s comments refer to the PSG centre-back and captain. The remarks come before Tuesday evening’s Champions League semi-final first leg.
Mats Hummels agreed with Höwedes’s assessment, pinpointing Marquinhos as a weak link in the PSG side. Hummels, working as a TV pundit, believes Marquinhos wasn’t prepared for Bayern’s intense pressing during their group-stage clash.
“As Bayern, we’d look to press him every time he has the ball and make him feel uncomfortable again,” Hummels added.
Bayern Munich won 2-1 at Parc des Princes during the Champions League group stage in early November. Marquinhos struggled in the opening 45 minutes and was largely to blame for Luis Díaz’s second goal.
Marquinhos’s Champions League Form
While Hummels believes the Parisian centre-back partnership of Marquinhos and Willian Pacho is “good,” he also stated “it’s not on the same level as Bayern.”
Marquinhos has been at PSG since 2013 and is now a club icon. He participated in the club’s failed Champions League campaigns for years, but last season he finally guided the French giants to their first European crown.
This term, Luis Enrique regards the Brazilian as indispensable in the Champions League. He has started 12 of PSG’s 14 matches in the competition, including Tuesday’s clash with Bayern. Marquinhos is no longer an automatic choice in Ligue 1, starting only one of the last nine domestic fixtures.
His most recent standout moment came in the quarter-final second leg at Liverpool (2-0), when he produced a spectacular goal-line clearance in his own five-yard box.
Upcoming Fixtures
After Tuesday’s first leg in Paris, PSG will travel to Munich for the return fixture next Wednesday. The winners are set to face either Arsenal or Atlético Madrid in the Champions League final in Budapest at the end of May.
The confirmed lineups for the first leg are:
- Safonov – Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes – Neves, Vitinha, Zaire-Emery – Kvaratskhelia, Doué, Dembélé
- Neuer – Stanisic, Upamecano, Tah, Davies – Kimmich, Pavlovic – Olise, Musiala, Diaz – Kane