PSG Target Back-to-Back Champions League Glory Against Arsenal in Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Paris Saint-Germain players Ousmane Dembele and Marquinhos say the French club’s drive for European success has grown stronger as they prepare to meet Arsenal in Saturday’s Champions League final.

PSG lifted the competition’s trophy for the first time last season and will try to keep it in Budapest against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, a club still seeking its first Champions League title.

Marquinhos, the PSG captain, said last year’s 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the final had changed the feeling around the Ligue 1 champions and left the squad wanting more of the same success.

Speaking to reporters at the Puskas Arena, the Brazilian defender said: “Once you win the Champions League, once you taste that title, once you taste that moment, you want so badly to relive moments like that again.”

He added: “I still remember today the feeling and emotion in the dressing room after that final. And for us, as competitors, we always want to feel that emotion. And again, we have to be hungry, we have to have motivation.”

Marquinhos also said the effort being made by PSG supporters to reach Hungary has given the team another push. Some fans are travelling a long distance east by road, including his father.

“My father, even, with friends, is on his way by car. You have people who came from far away to push us on,” Marquinhos said. “So the motivation, the hunger, and the ambition to win this title have not changed since last year. And maybe it’s even stronger because we’ve tasted it.”

Dembele, the France international, said the best players separate themselves by repeatedly winning the biggest prizes.

“We have a young squad, incredible staff and incredible players who want to win trophies,” he said. “We’re hungry to win every trophy, whether it’s the Champions League, the league, or the cup.

“We’re competitors — if we want to be great players we have to win this kind of trophy several times. We’re hungry, and we hope everything goes well tomorrow.”

Arsenal arrive in the final unbeaten in the competition and with the tournament’s tightest defence. Arteta’s team are also dangerous from set pieces, giving PSG another area to manage carefully.

“We know their strength, we know how hard and difficult it is to come up against this Arsenal side,” Marquinhos said. “In a match, especially in a final, it’s going to be decided on the details… knowing how to defend, how to attack, how to counter, how to defend a set piece, also how to attack a set piece.”

Dembele had a calf issue earlier in May, but said he was never anxious about being ruled out of the final.

The former Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund forward won last year’s Ballon d’Or after playing a major role in PSG’s run to European glory. Another PSG triumph could put him in contention again.

“[Winning that] hasn’t really changed the way I am or the way I play. I do know, though, that I’ve had a lot more responsibility since I arrived at Paris Saint-Germain,” Dembele said.