The European season had wound down with PSG securing their second straight Champions League title, and captain Marquinhos about to lift the trophy. But it came with his Brazil teammate Gabriel missing in a shootout, after going over the crossbar as Arsenal lost the final. It was reason enough for the victorious captain to pause and tend to the disappointment of his national team buddy.
Brazil is all about creativit of Neymar, Vinicius Jr and Raphinha, and further still will deped on Matheus Cunha and Lucas Paqueta to score goals. But it is their lesser talked oc defense that will determine how deep get go into the World Cup.
It’s why the empathy shown by Marquinhos towards Gabriel when on opposing sides in club football’s biggest final, remains significant.
Marquinhos told TNT, “When that moment happened, the first thing I thought of was the time I missed the penalty in the World Cup (quarter-final shootout defeat to Croatia). I know how difficult that moment is for a player; it’s a weight that really falls on your shoulders. There’s no way around it; it’s our responsibility, it’s our moment there.”
The forlorn figure of Gabriel standing alone after the shootout immediately alerted Marquinhos to the need to throw an arm of consolation around him, given how tough it gets.
Recalling the moment at Brazil’s World Cup training camp this week and ahead of their Morocco clash, Marquinhos told reporters, “I was ready and prepared to celebrate. But when I started running, I saw him right in front of me and my team going past him, the same image as after my penalty (miss) in 2022.”
That’s when he started thinking about his Brazil teammate, having empathy, because he had been through a moment like that and knew the responsibility. He would urge Gabriel to zoom out of that one moment and look at the whole year. “I told (Gabriel) to stay strong, to hold his head high because he’d had an incredible season and an incredible match. I told him that, in my opinion, he was the best centre-back in the world this season. He simply didn’t deserve to carry that burden because, of course, we all want to score penalties.”
Marquinhos wanted Gabriel to realise that his missed penalty should not become the defining conclusion of his season.
The Brazilian would remind Gabriel of his centrality to Brazil’s fortunes at the World Cup. “I told him that nothing about that moment would take away from the wonderful season he’d had and that we were going to need him very much. Those were my words to him, so that he could get over that moment as quickly as possible because we were going to need him very soon here.”