Arsenal lose – Arsenal took the lead against PSG but lost on penalties in Budapest as Gabriel missed the decisive kick, extending their Champions League final record to played two, lost two.
For long stretches it looked as if Arsenal had finally found the piece they’ve been missing for more than 60 years in European nights. They struck first, held on for more than an hour, dug in under wave after wave of pressure from PSG, and pushed the final down to a shootout at the Puskas Arena.
They still couldn’t bring the trophy home.
PSG’s retained Champions League crown was decided on penalties. and on Saturday night the cruelest moment landed on Arsenal’s captain for the final kick. Gabriel stepped up to take Arsenal’s last penalty—credit him with the guts to do it—and leaned back as he struck. The ball sailed high over the bar. Penalties are not his job, and this one hurt because it wasn’t just any miss. It was a miss that erased a night Arsenal had fought for.
The pain is magnified by what came before. After Arsenal’s defeat to Barcelona in Paris 20 years ago, their record in Champions League finals now reads played two, lost two.
PSG deserved the win in the way they’ve learned to win these moments. They had 75 per cent possession. and their 4-3 penalty shootout made them only the second team in the last 35 years to retain the Champions League trophy. They also had a recent statement behind them, trouncing Inter Milan last season.
This time, though, it didn’t play like Arsenal were helpless. They made PSG earn it—and they went toe to toe with a side that arrived as the defending champion.
The foundations of Arsenal’s night were laid early. PSG struggled to get going for the first five minutes, and then a mistake opened the door. Marquinhos tried to clear the ball on half way but hit it straight at Leandro Trossard. The ball ricocheted off Trossard into the path of Havertz, who sprinted through on goal. Matvei Safonov tried to cover the near post. crouching as Havertz hammered the shot over his head with power that left the goalkeeper with no chance to react.
It was a familiar kind of decisive football from Havertz. who scored the winning goal for Chelsea against Manchester City in the 2021 final. It also fed the bigger story Arsenal wrote themselves into as they hunted a European identity beyond “bottlers and chokers.” Havertz justified his inclusion ahead of Viktor Gyokeres. and he became only the third player to score for two different teams in a Champions League final—after Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Mario Mandzukic (Juventus and Bayern Munich).
Arsenal’s advantage didn’t last forever, but it did last long enough to matter. PSG resumed with domination of possession, yet they couldn’t find a way through Arsenal’s defence. When Arsenal did have the ball. the midfield looked more alive than it has at various points this season. helped by Myles Lewis-Skelly’s energy and urgency. He forced his way into the side late in the season and brought the kind of tempo that. in the telling of Arsenal’s own momentum. had been missing from Martin Zubimendi.
Midway through the first half, Lewis-Skelly drove into space in the middle of the pitch and laid the ball wide to Bukayo Saka. Saka ran at Nuno Mendes, beat him on the outside, and arrowed in a cross. Safonov spilled it, but PSG hacked it away.
The referee’s control tightened as the half wore on. He blew to signal the interval as Saka was preparing to take a corner, pointing out that the Arsenal winger had taken too long.
The second half began with bookings. In the first minute after the restart, the German referee booked Cristhian Mosquera for time-wasting. Eight minutes later he booked Saka for a sliding tackle on Desire Doue on the edge of the Arsenal area. Achraf Hakimi took the free kick, but David Raya saved comfortably.
Then came the wave. The PSG end surged, the white shirts pressed forward in waves—one after another—and for an hour Arsenal held firm.
But the game finally slipped. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, quiet until that point, played a one-two with Ousmane Dembele and darted into the box. Mosquera tried to track him, misjudged the tackle, and their legs tangled. Kvaratskhelia went down, and the referee pointed to the spot.
PSG wanted a second yellow card for Mosquera, but it wasn’t given. The escape didn’t come. Dembele took the penalty and sent Raya the wrong way. Flares burst in the PSG end, the volume of support rose, and confidence flowed through Luis Enrique’s team.
Arteta responded with changes. He brought Jurrien Timber on in place of Mosquera and Gyokeres for Martin Odegaard. Arsenal started to look a little ragged as the pressure increased.
Kvaratskhelia went for goal again at the same angle Havertz had earlier, but Lewis-Skelly got back just in time and deflected Kvaratskhelia’s shot onto the post.
Late chances threatened to break the contest open. Raya saved superbly at the feet of Bradley Barcola, and Doue slid a ball to Vitinha, who curled it inches over the bar. In the last seconds of added time, Barcola raced through again, but Arsenal fans could barely watch as he sliced the shot wide.
Extra time arrived—and with it, the deeper pull of Arsenal’s squad. Saka and Trossard went off. Eberechi Eze and Zubimendi came on. Noni Madueke was also on.
Near the end of the first period of extra time. Madueke pushed the ball past Nuno Mendes and took him on for pace. As Madueke neared the byline, Nuno Mendes appeared to wrestle him to the floor, but the referee waved play on. Arsenal’s bench erupted with outrage. Substitutes leapt to the touchline, and Arteta gesticulated furiously. But Mr Siebert would not be moved.
Declan Rice was booked for protesting too much. Arteta was booked too as well. It was the closest the game came to a breakthrough in extra time.
So it went to penalties again. Arsenal had forced their way there, again and again stepping up when the moment demanded it—especially during the shootout, where David Raya saved superbly from Nuno Mendes and Gabriel Martinelli thumped his penalty high into the net.
Yet history escaped Arsenal once more. PSG became only the second team to win the Champions League in consecutive seasons.
For Arsenal, the season ends with the sharpest kind of trade-off. This would have been their best season in their history if they had won the shootout, a team that could have outranked the Invincibles of 2003-04. Instead, they’re left to climb again.
Next season. this competition will be their priority—and it is the trophy they need to marry their history and their bearing with reality. On Saturday night they left it all out there on the Puskas Arena pitch. The last thing that remains is the moment Gabriel’s kick sailed over the bar—an ending nobody can describe as undeserved for the effort. but one that still counts exactly the same.
MISRYOUM Sports News Arsenal PSG Champions League final penalties Gabriel miss David Raya save Havertz goal Luis Enrique Budapest Puskas Arena
Unreal, just brutal.
I mean they led, then somehow it’s penalties and boom? That’s what kills me. Gabriel missed and that’s it, like football is a lottery.
Wait, so Arsenal took the lead and then PSG won on penalties, but also Gabriel missed the decisive kick like it was “his job” or whatever? idk why I feel like the keeper should’ve saved it more than the captain doing his penalty. But yeah Arsenal still haven’t won the final forever so it’s kinda cursed.
Budapest, Puskas Arena… I swear every time I hear “European nights” it ends in heartbreak. And people are acting like it’s only one guy but penalties are literally luck half the time. Also Arsenal “held on for more than an hour” like that matters if they couldn’t close it out. If Gabriel had scored they’d’ve been champions, but now it’s just another ‘played two lost two’ thing. Sad.