Marquinhos explains PSG defeat: "Dijon played like heroes"
Paris Saint-Germain must be prepared to face elevated performances from seemingly innocuous opponents, according to defender Marquinhos.
Marquinhos warned Paris Saint-Germain to expect more ambushes of the kind that saw them suffer a shock 2-1 defeat to struggling Dijon on Friday. The Ligue 1 leaders opened the scoring against the run of play through Kylian Mbappé before being punished for a below-par display at Stade Gaston Gerard. Mounir Chouiar equalised deep into first-half stoppage time and Jhonder Cádiz competed the quickfire comeback moments after the restart as Dijon, bottom of the table at the start of the match, secured just their third victory of the season.
Dijon end PSG's winning run
The upset brought PSG's impressive six-match winning streak in all competitions to a shuddering halt and prompted centre-back Marquinhos to deliver words of caution. "We know what it means for the other teams to play against PSG. We are the team to beat in France," the Brazilian said. "The other teams are happy when they get a good result against us. It's a different game for the other teams and we have to understand that. We must not be surprised as we were today. We need to be focused from the beginning of the game. We started well with the goal but then there were substitutions and breaks in play. I think we relaxed at that point."
PSG eventually started to find fluency in the second half and would have rescued at least a point had Mauro Icardi made the most of several chances. Marquinhos noted the improvement but had more praise for Dijon's dogged resistance. "They played like heroes," he said. "They played a good game, they were clinical. We weren't. That explains the result at the end."