Marquinhos explains why he consoled Gabriel after Champions League final

Marquinhos halted his celebration to console Gabriel Magalhães, whose missed penalty sealed PSG’s victory in the Champions League final against Arsenal in Budapest. Five days after this triumph, the Paris captain explained the gesture at a press conference on Thursday.

“I was already ready to celebrate the title, but when I started running to rejoin my team, I saw Gabriel standing right in front of me,” he said. “It was exactly the same image I had when I missed that penalty at the 2022 World Cup.”

The parallel is striking: in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, Marquinhos himself had missed his decisive penalty, leading to Brazil’s elimination against Croatia. This painful memory guided his gesture toward his compatriot.

“At that moment, I stepped back and thought about my teammate, feeling some empathy for him in that situation. Just as I myself went through a very difficult moment like that, and I know the weight and responsibility of being there at that moment,” continued the 32-year-old defender, admitting he would have himself “liked to receive comfort at that moment.”

The gesture, considered rare in modern football, was widely praised by the press and supporters around the world.

The two Brazilian centre-backs will soon have the chance to reunite under the same shirt: both have been called up with the Seleção to prepare for the 2026 World Cup, where they could form the central defence. It will be Gabriel Magalhães’s first World Cup, Marquinhos’s third.