Marquinhos eyeing Champions League treble for PSG

By David Charlesworth, Press Association

Paris St Germain captain Marquinhos has already set his sights on a Champions League hat-trick.

The Ligue 1 giants ended a string of near-misses to claim their first Champions League crown 12 months ago and made it a double on Saturday night after overcoming Arsenal on penalties in the final.

Of PSG’s 11 starters and five substitutes who played in Budapest, only Brazilian centre-back Marquinhos and Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz are in their 30s, with the club boasting one of the youngest squads in Europe.

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And Marquinhos wants them to continue making history.

“It’s unbelievable, we are living the dream,” he said in quotes on the club’s website. “We have to keep moving in the right direction to continue to experience these great moments.

“We have a very young squad, we can win a third in a row.”

While the French capital club swept aside Inter Milan 5-0 in last year’s showpiece, they had to dig deep against the Gunners, who took a sixth-minute lead thanks to Kai Havertz.

Ousmane Dembele levelled from the spot in the second half and after the teams could not be separated after 120 minutes, the match went to penalties, with Gabriel’s miss proving decisive.

Marquinhos, who immediately went to comfort Brazil team-mate Gabriel, admitted retaining their crown has been more difficult than he imagined.

“The feelings are different this year,” he added. “Winning once is hard, winning two in a row is even harder! We are going to celebrate this title in style. And we’ll keep partying (on Sunday) too.”