Every time heated water-cooler debates arrive on the matter of central defenders, the identical names all the time appear to crop up.
Why does not that of Marquinhos get talked about extra?
PSG’s skipper has developed into one of many planet’s most constant performers to the purpose the place his affect can not be ignored. We’ll dissect that affect for membership and nation, with assistance from AI Abacus statistics.
🇧🇷 Good for Brazil
Marquinhos and co. shouldered an terrible lot of nationwide strain on the Rio Olympic Video games in 2016. The Gold Medal match towards Germany went all the best way to penalties, a shootout settled by the nerveless Neymar, then of Barcelona and now a teammate of Marquinhos at PSG.
Netflix’s docuseries “Neymar: The Good Chaos” cuts to Marquinhos and the way he was feeling at that actual second simply earlier than Neymar stepped as much as the spot with the burden of a football-mad nation on his shoulders. He laughingly regarded into the digital camera and mentioned that he instructed Neymar “it is all you bro” to which Ney replied, “it is you guys too!”
That camaraderie that has developed between two of PSG’s most senior figures is paying dividends on the pitch, whether or not the pair are sporting PSG’s stylish Air Jordan impressed kits or the long-lasting canary yellow of Brazil. At Copa América 2019, Marquinhos slotted a penalty in a shootout towards Paraguay after their quarterfinal ended 0-0.
He stored a clear sheet towards Leo Messi, Lautaro Martínez and Kun Agüero within the Seleção’s 2-0 semifinal victory over their nice South American rivals Argentina. Brazil then beat Peru 3-1 within the last. That aim they conceded was the one one shipped all through the whole event. That is some report.
Brazil wasn’t in a position to defend its Copa title in 2021 however they will be one of many favourites to go all the best way at Qatar 2022. On the time of writing, FIFA ranks them because the world’s second-best aspect.
☄️ Undoubted pedigree from a younger age
PSG parted with €31.4m again in 2013 for then-teenage defensive midfielder Marquinhos from Roma, the place he spent only a solitary season, and he is now one of many sport’s best operators at centre-back and the membership captain at Parc des Princes.
It began for Marquinhos as an eight-year-old in 2002 when he joined the youth setup of Brazilian top-flight aspect Corinthians, situated within the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. He made his Brazilian Serie A debut in Could 2012, six days after his 18th birthday.
He would solely make six appearances in complete for the Corinthians first staff earlier than Italian giants Roma got here calling; his potential to excel on the high degree was already that apparent. However he did not transfer to Italy’s capital metropolis earlier than he bought to hold a Copa Libertadores winner’s medal round his neck. Curiously, Marquinhos wore the quantity 10 jersey throughout that event. Brazilian membership sides have all the time been a little bit quirky in that regard and that is unlikely to ever change. One factor was sure although – we have been coping with a uncommon expertise.
🔮 Marquinhos’ intangibles
What a bunch of uncooked knowledge and statistics is not fairly in a position to talk are the intangible qualities that make a participant so efficient and widespread together with his teammates and coaches. Marquinhos has proven repeatedly that he’s the person for the massive event at PSG, developing with very important objectives in knockout environments, particularly within the Champions League.
That large match temperament, or BMT, is an indispensable high quality. It was Marquinhos who struck within the ninetieth minute towards Atalanta within the revised format of the 2020 Champions League quarterfinals to maintain PSG’s hopes alive after being on the point of elimination, and it was he who opened the scoring towards RB Leipzig within the semis.
Pure management can also be a top quality that merely does not develop on timber, however he possesses it in spades. A mainstay for membership and nation, Marquinhos’ teammates now rely on him to prepared the ground and the 27-year-old thrives underneath that kind of strain.
🤨 One thing of a statistical anomaly
Talking of uncooked knowledge and statistics, we spoke to our pals at AI Abacus who helped us to attract up a easy participant profile for Marquinhos, primarily based on his excellent participant traits, utilizing their refined modelling and in depth databases. This train produced some fascinating outcomes.
Marquinhos is a nice bodily specimen although he solely stands at 6’0″ tall, which is not significantly tall for a contemporary defender. A naturally gifted athlete, his main strengths appear to be bodily ones, although one of many standout parts of his sport (on a qualitative degree and except for statistics) is that he is versatile, street-smart and tactically adaptable. He can seamlessly slot right into a defensive midfield function and even at right-back, making him a priceless piece of the PSG and Brazil puzzles. In different phrases, what seems to be really nice about Marquinhos does not present up within the knowledge practically as a lot as his bodily prowess.
🧮 Positional versatility
Marquinhos is a genuinely uncommon breed bordering on extinction. No different elite centre-back in Europe proper now can carry out as a specialist holding midfielder. Not since Vincent Kompany have we seen a pure central defensive midfielder ease into the function of centre-half with such aplomb. With the bare eye, we will see that Marquinhos is an achieved ball-playing centre-back, and far of that’s owing to his schooling greater up the pitch, which helped him acquire a full-360 psychological image of occasions occurring round him.
📉 Marquinhos’ participant traits in accordance with AI Abacus:
- Proper-footed centre-back
- Versatile
- Not often makes fouls
- Wins tackles and is never crushed 1v1
- Commonly blocks photographs
- Commonly performs through-balls
- Extremely safe in possession
So, which gamers have comparable skill-sets and taking part in kinds? Once more we’ll flip to our AI Abacus intel. Dayot Upamecano is a star within the making for France and Bayern however remains to be 4 years Marquinhos’ junior, and properly on the best way to turning into an elite defender. Borussia Dortmund’s elegant Manuel Akanji, stylistically talking, shares many similarities with Marquinhos however does not have fairly the identical international stature simply but.
Merely put, there are not any different centre-backs on the earth who share Marquinhos’ profile and are in his actual age bracket. Man Metropolis’s defensive rock Rúben Dias remains to be 24 and already reveals excellent pure management expertise and is aerially aggressive and proactive, however he is not as technically tidy because the Brazilian. Dias’ standing as an solely specialist centre-back means that he’s dissimilar to Marquinhos in a single key division (he did not even present up on this knowledge set), however what they’ve in widespread is that they are two of one of the best within the enterprise.
🏆 A Champions League title nonetheless eludes him
Let’s circle again to the burning query of this piece. Maybe Marquinhos must win the Champions League if he’s to be regarded within the high tier of achieved international centre-halves. Defeat in 2020 would have reduce him deep, and that ache will solely go away when he goes one higher and lifts the trophy. This may be a useful complement to the nationwide honours he has already scooped with Brazil.
In abstract, Marquinhos’ best power is that there is not actually one other elite centre-back in Europe fairly like him. He isn’t as dominant and aggressive within the air as his teammate Sergio Ramos was in his heyday at Actual Madrid, and he isn’t as unflappable or adept at spraying the ball over lengthy diagonal distances as Virgil van Dijk.
Marcos Aoás Corrêa, or Marquinhos for brief, shall be relishing an imminent Champions League R16 assembly with Actual Madrid and, in fact, the World Cup. Massive events draw one of the best out of the person. 2022 may simply be the yr that he begins to inscribe his title into soccer’s hallowed historical past books.
What number of centre-backs on planet earth are higher than Marquinhos? You’ll be able to most actually depend them with a few fingers on one hand.
