Marcelo: Copa Libertadores more important than Champions Leagues with Real Madrid
The 35-year-old left-back won five European Cups with Los Blancos, but says Saturday's South American title is extra special
Marcelo says lifting the Copa Libertadores with Fluminense means more than his Champions League wins with Real Madrid.
The veteran left-back started his career at Fluminense before signing for Los Blancos in 2007 and returned to his first professional club earlier this year after a short spell at Olympiacos.
Now 35 years old, Marcelo won a club record 25 trophies at Real Madrid, including five Champions League titles.
And after helping Fluminense to their first ever Copa Libertadores on Saturday, as the Rio de Janeiro outfit edged out Boca Juniors after extra time at the Maracana, he admitted that this one was extra special.
"Real Madrid will understand," he told ESPN. "It's my most important trophy, at club level, because it's the club that raised me.
"Real knows they are always in my heart. It's hard to say. It's a double joy."
And he added: "I'm winning a very important title with my favourite club, the club that gave me all the tools to have my career, with the employees who saw me grow up.
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"There's nothing more rewarding than that. It's priceless."
Marcelo is now one of a select group of players who have won both the Copa Libertadores and the Champions League, which also includes Ronaldinho, Neymar, Julian Alvarez and Carlos Tevez.
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Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.