Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos feels their Club World Cup final defeat should not take anything away from a “crazy” season.
PSG were outclassed by Chelsea in Sunday’s showpiece match, with Cole Palmer’s brace followed up by Joao Pedro’s smart finish in a 3-0 victory at MetLife Stadium.
PSG’s woes were then compounded late on, as they saw Joao Neves sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
The Parisiens conceded three goals within the first 43 minutes of play for just the third time under the ownership of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI, since 2011).
It was just the second time they had lost a final by a margin of more than one goal (excluding Super Cups), too, after a 2-0 loss to Gueugnon in the 2000 Coupe de la Ligue.
Enzo Maresca’s Blues impressed in the match, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 2.08 from their 10 shots, to PSG’s 0.53 from eight efforts at Robert Sanchez’s goal.
It was a disappointing end to a sensational 2024-25 for Luis Enrique’s team, who won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Trophee des Champions and the Champions League.
Their victory over Real Madrid in the semi-finals was their 48th since the start of the season, surpassing their previous best total of 47 victories from the 2015-16 campaign.
While Marquinhos expressed his frustration at not winning the new-look tournament at the first time of asking, he was proud of the season his team-mates had produced.
“The fans are always with us, in good times and bad. We would have liked to win this trophy and bring it back to Paris. We had a golden opportunity,” Marquinhos told DAZN.
“It’s a trophy that comes back every four years, we don’t know if we’ll have that chance again. I’m sorry, it’s a shame for us.
“We didn’t succeed, but I don’t think it takes anything away from this crazy season we had.
“They were incredible moments. I think the fans are still very proud even if we lost today.”
Marquinhos also conceded that Chelsea’s tactics worked in the first half and were key to their triumph, with the Blues able to limit PSG’s star-studded attack to very few chances.
The Premier League outfit also seemed to target Nuno Mendes on the left side of PSG’s defence, which saw Palmer score his two goals from near-identical positions.
PSG’s poor start was in stark contrast to their semi-final win over Madrid, when Fabian Ruiz’s brace and Ousmane Dembele’s strike put them three goals up in 24 minutes.
Indeed, it saw them claim a three-goal advantage after 24 minutes for the first time since April 2018, when they put three past Monaco in a Ligue 1 clash.
“I think they worked well on our little weakness. Tactically, they put us in trouble in the first half, we took time to react,” Marquinhos added.
“Chelsea won the physical battle, especially in the first half. They won a lot of duels. We were below what we can do. That’s what explains this result.
“It was very difficult in the first half. They were very effective on the chances they had and that changed everything.
“We saw it in the Champions League final. When you’re efficient, it changes everything. We had chances, but we didn’t manage to score.”
