On the eve of Sunday’s Champions League final at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Paris Saint‑Germain captain Marquinhos told team‑mates the immediate danger they must guard against is Arsenal’s set‑piece efficiency.
Marquinhos delivered the warning at official pre‑match media duties alongside Ousmane Dembele and framed it as a specific tactical risk in a one‑off game where small moments decide outcomes. PSG arrive as reigning champions — last season they beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the final — and have scored 44 goals in this European campaign; Arsenal, unbeaten in Europe heading into the match, have conceded six goals in 14 continental fixtures.
Those figures underline why set pieces matter. Arsenal’s continental record shows defensive discipline; PSG’s attacking numbers show the threat they can pose. This final is the eighth meeting between the clubs across all competitions and the first major European final staged between English and French clubs, so familiarity will count — and so will dead‑ball situations, Marquinhos warned.
"Once you’ve won the Champions League, once you’ve tasted that title, you want to experience that kind of moment again," Marquinhos said, adding that PSG must bring the same hunger: "We have to be hungry, we have to have to be motivated." He stressed preparation for specific moments: "In a final, we’ll need to be decisive when it comes to the details."
Marquinhos also insisted PSG will try to repeat the pressure‑management approach that served them last season. "Last season’s approach was to try and manage everything that’s going on around the match, everything concerning the pressure. We’re not going to change anything, we’re going to keep working as we’ve been doing until now and keep the motivation that we had last year," he said, pointing to the fine line between confidence and complacency when a team defends a title.
He highlighted the crowd factor as well, noting how fans have mobilized for the match: "We’ve played them a few times over the last few years, and we know what their strengths are," he said, and mentioned supporters travelling by car — even his father is travelling with friends to motivate the team — a detail that underlines PSG’s desire to recreate the ritual of winning.
Coach Luis Enrique framed the stakes in blunt terms: "Once is historic, twice is legendary," he said, and added that PSG’s "motivation is to continue being one of the best teams in Europe and in the world." He described the challenge as fitting different paths to the same target: "They score a lot of goals and we defend very well, but the path to achieve that is different."
Practically, the match at the Puskas Arena will force both sides to make adjustments. For PSG, that means staffing set‑piece marks, avoiding needless fouls in dangerous areas and converting their own dead‑ball chances; for Arsenal it will mean finding ways to unsettle a defence that has won Europe before. Marquinhos was explicit about uncertainty: "We can’t know what will happen during the match, and what could be the deciding moment. We need to be ready for anything."
The single clearest watchpoint before kickoff is therefore not a tactical innovation or an injured starter but the treatment of set pieces and marginal moments — the spaces where Arsenal have shown efficiency and where PSG insist they must remain hungry and precise. Sunday’s final in Budapest will answer whether Paris can neutralize that specific threat and repeat as champions, or whether Arsenal’s set pieces will provide the decisive edge.
