- 19-year-old handed debut against FC Zurich
- Opened the scoring in the 16th minute
- Provided assist for Nketiah's second-half winner
WHAT HAPPENED? Marquinhos made quite the first impression as he pulled on the Arsenal shirt for the first time in the Europa League on Thursday evening. A goal and assist marked a brilliant display for the young Brazilian and his performance earned him a pretty lofty post-match comparison.
WHAT HE SAID: Speaking on BT Sport's coverage of the game, Martin Keown had some very high praise for Marquinhos, he said: "He’s got a huge future ahead of him. He looked a bit like a [Serge] Gnabry-type player. He’s short, stocky, explosive pace. He looked very classy.
"He picked and chose his moments cleverly, whipped a couple of crosses in. Really good quality. He kept on producing. I think it’s great news. We’ve seen [Bukayo] Saka, we’ve seen [Emile] Smith Rowe in this very competition start their careers. I think we’re seeing another star here in the making."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: After opening the scoring against FC Zurich, the young winger was unable to hold contain his emotions as he dropped to his knees in tears.
STORY IN THREE PHOTOS:
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Getty Images
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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR MARQUINHOS? With an extremely hectic fixture schedule in the coming weeks and months, Marquinhos will benefit from a lot more first-team exposure. He showed that he is more than capable of deputising for Saka and is likely to continue to do so between now and the World Cup.