Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos said the message of gratitude he received from fellow Brazilian and Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhães was the "greatest victory" he could have asked for after the Champions League final.
Gabriel missed Arsenal's fifth and decisive penalty as PSG secured a 4-3 victory on penalties to defend their Champions League crown in last weekend's final in Budapest.
Marquinhos made headlines when, instead of celebrating with the rest of his PSG teammates, he went straight over to hug a distraught Gabriel.
"A day later, I received a message from him thanking me for that moment, for the support, for the hug, and for the words I'd shared with him," Marquinhos said in a news conference.
"I told him it had been my greatest victory that night, and that the reaction it generated was great. My mum came over, proud of what I'd done, along with my wife, family and brothers. It was the best accolade I received that night.
"Players have to move on to the next challenge very quickly. I can't keep celebrating forever; we've got other things to do, and so does he."
Marquinhos had suffered a painful experience just like that while playing for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup when he missed the crucial penalty in a shootout that saw Croatia advance to the semifinals of the competition.
He knew exactly what to tell Gabriel after the final whistle.
"I was ready and prepared to celebrate," Marquinhos said. "But when I started running, I saw him right in front of me and my team going past him, the same image as after my penalty [miss] in 2022.
"That's when I started thinking about my [Brazil] teammate, having empathy, because I've been through a moment like that and I know the responsibility.
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"I told [Gabriel] to stay strong, to hold his head high because he'd had an incredible season and an incredible match," he said.
"I told him that, in my opinion, he was the best centre-back in the world this season. He simply didn't deserve to carry that burden because, of course, we all want to score penalties.
"I told him that nothing about that moment would take away from the wonderful season he'd had and that we were going to need him very much. Those were my words to him, so that he could get over that moment as quickly as possible because we were going to need him very soon here."
Marquinhos, who will captain Brazil at the World Cup, is expected to start in defence alongside Gabriel at the World Cup.
