PSG 1-1 ARSENAL (4-3 pens): The Gunners were cruelly defeated on penalties in Budapest as PSG retained their Champions League crown
20:24, 30 May 2026Updated 20:30, 30 May 2026
Gabriel Magalhaes
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Gabriel Magalhaes missed his penalty as Arsenal endured penalty heartbreak against PSG
We knew Premier League title glory carried the power to transform Arsenal. Just 11 days later, for the best part of an hour on the banks of the Danube, it looked capable of propelling them to a whole new stratosphere.
Top-flight bridesmaids? Not this time. Nearly men? Regrettably in Budapest, by the finest of margins, it was so.
Mikel Arteta has not only restored the Gunners' reputation as a serious outfit, he's ensured they will continue to dine at the top table for as long as he's at the helm.
Now Pep Guardiola has departed Manchester City, there is serious potential for an Arsenal dynasty. Like it or not, 'The Unbearables' and English football's set-pieces kings are not going to go away.
But for top sides to be remembered among the greats, cynically, these are the opportunities that cannot pass you by.
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This Champions League final will be laced with regret. It will be tinged with what-ifs. Had Jurrien Timber been fully fit, perhaps he would have contained PSG's Georgian locksmith Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Maybe, he would not have eagerly lunged in like makeshift right-back Cristhian Mosquera. That cannot be the sole moment attributed to this gut-wrenching defeat, though.
While Arsenal exploded out of the blocks, there is a firm argument the handbrake was then applied before it was released emphatically after PSG had levelled.
It's a phrase that is known to privately irk Arteta but you cannot shy away from the notion that this game was there for the taking at 1-0 after Kai Havertz's opener.
Perhaps the Gunners would be foolish to go for the throat against a side that has scored 126 goals in all competitions this season but the opening five minutes suggest the French champions underestimated Arsenal.
Gabriel Magalhaes
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Arsenal were cruelly beaten in the Champions League final by PSG
There was an arrogance that as the reigning continental kings, they could coast and grow into this game.
Arsenal suffocated them, then sat back, trusting their rock-solid backline that has kept a whopping 32 clean sheets in all competitions to marshal them over the line.
Havertz's second chance, the slickest move of the entire match, should have provided Arteta's men with the confidence that they could open Luis Enrique's men up.
David Raya's sloppy second-half kick suggested the nerves after Ousmane Dembele's penalty were spreading like wildfire. Then, once they began to compose themselves, Arsenal started to play with real intensity. It posed an obvious question about the underlying mentality of this side: why did it take a PSG goal to spark them back into life?
From there, it all became a bit frantic - not only on the pitch but also on the sidelines. Creative hub Saka was hooked for Noni Madueke and the former's shake of the head told its own story.
An attack of Gabriel Martinelli, Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres never truly felt capable of driving Arsenal over the line - even if the England international impressed and should have had a penalty.
When Kvaratskhelia and Dembele both left the field before extra-time - they could barely walk - suddenly PSG looked notably blunt, which again, will sting.
Kai Havertz
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Kai Havertz had put Arsenal ahead
Let's get one thing straight: there is no shame in losing to Enrique's Parisian Globetrotters but given the Premier League winners were still in all four competitions right into late-March, the undeniable disappointment still feels sinking.
They had a strong whiff of European glory and it just does not feel right or fitting that after such a mammoth effort, this spectacular season ends in enormous pain following the lottery of a penalty-shootout.
Sadly, this just feels like another cruel step in Arsenal's long-winding journey. Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City both had to endure Champions League heartbreak to taste what life is like at the top of the continental mountain.
It will not make the nature of this defeat any easier to swallow but history suggests brighter days - Arteta flirted with the sack in December 2020 following the club's worst start to a season in a generation - do lie ahead.
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