Marquinhos dismisses Arsenal readiness question ahead of Champions League final in Budapest

Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos has brushed aside questions about his side’s readiness for Arsenal, pointing to their run of wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich as evidence that PSG can handle whatever Mikel Arteta’s team bring to the Champions League final in Budapest.

“We look at our team and the teams we’ve come up against at Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Chelsea,” Marquinhos said. “We’ve played all these teams since the start of the season. We’ve come up against different teams who have given us a run for our money at different moments in certain games and we’ve shown that we don’t let that beat us. We’ve always been ready to deal with it. You don’t know what you are going to come up against in a final but we will be well prepared.”

The Brazil defender also stressed that the motivation to retain the trophy PSG won last year remains as strong as ever. “It’s a source of motivation for us. We have already gone down in history books as one of the best teams in the world. We showed exactly what a good team we are and now we’re coming into a second Champions League final and the motivation is even higher.”

Marquinhos acknowledged Arsenal’s quality while making clear PSG’s ambitions are undiminished. “Arsenal are a very good team and the job Arteta has done has been brilliant because it is so hard to win the Premier League. But we are highly motivated and just as hungry as players to win again.”

Ousmane Dembele, who had been a fitness concern in the build-up to the final, insists he is fully recovered and ready to play. “I am 100 per cent ready. I did have a little problem but we are ready now because I had ten or 15 days to prepare and get myself in great shape again,” the forward said.

Dembele also spoke about the squad’s determination not to rest on the achievement of last season’s triumph. “We always want to be playing a Champions League final at the end of May. We did it last year for the first time and we were all on cloud nine. It was a historical moment for everyone but we’ve reset everything and we want to win trophies again. We are a young squad, highly ambitious and we’re not going to sit on our laurels. We’re in it to win it again and we believe that we can do it again.”