Corinthians academy product hits impressive Champions League mark | OneFootball

By Fabio Luigi / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the afternoon of this Wednesday (6), Paris Saint-Germain of France secured a spot in the Champions League final by defeating Bayern Munich of Germany 6-5 on aggregate. In the first match, on French soil, they won 5-4. This afternoon, the two teams met again, this time in Bavaria, and the clash ended in a 1-1 draw. It is worth remembering that the Parisian side are the current champions of Europe’s biggest club tournament.

The match was special for center-back Marquinhos, PSG captain and a product of Corinthians’ youth academy, who became the Brazilian with the most appearances in Champions League history (121). The defender surpassed former left-back Roberto Carlos, who had a spell at Parque São Jorge between 2010 and 2011 and has 120 matches in the tournament.

Photo: Disclosure/PSG

Rounding out the top five are former right-back Daniel Alves (111), center-back Thiago Silva (105), and defensive midfielder Fernandinho (103). As mentioned, Marquinhos came through the entire youth system and is a Filho do Terrão, making his first-team debut for Corinthians in September 2011 at the age of 17, when he came off the bench in Timão’s 2-0 away win over Grêmio Osasco.

At the start of 2012, he won the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Jr with Corinthians. In total, he made only 15 appearances for Alvinegro (13 as a starter), recording seven wins, three draws, and five losses – a 53.33% success rate – and one assist for the club, being part of the squad that won the Conmebol Libertadores.

In August of that same year, he was loaned out and later sold permanently to Roma of Italy for R$ 8.2 million at the time. In mid-2013, he moved to PSG of France, where he remains to this day and is one of the greatest idols in the club’s history, for 32 million euros. Last season, he captained the team to the 2024/2025 Champions League title.

In total, he has made more than 500 appearances for the French club and won several titles: 10x (Ligue 1), 8x (French Cup), 10x (French Super Cup), 6x (French League Cup), 1x (UEFA Super Cup), 1x (Champions League), 1x (FIFA Intercontinental Cup). Meanwhile, wearing the Brazil national team shirt, he has 104 appearances and won the 2019 Copa América, held in Brazil. He represented the Seleção at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and is also expected to be at the 2026 edition.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.