A penalty shootout finally ended Arsenal's Champions League dream on Saturday night in the Puskas arena in Budapest as Paris Saint Germain prevailed in the dreaded spot kick lottery. The French champions won 4-3 in the shootout with Arsenal stars, Eze and Gabriel having their penalties saved with Raya guessing the right way to deny Nuno Mendes. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta summed up his emotions immediately after the game "Pain, that’s it. When you are so close in the competition and today you are a few penalty kicks away from winning the biggest club football competition, that’s the way we should feel."
Early goal
The match started extremely well for the Gunners when a clearance by Marquinhos hit Leandro Trossard and fell kindly into the path of Kai Havertz. He still had a lot to do with 40 yards to cover between him and the goal but he drove into the PSG box where he drilled a superb left foot strike high over the PSG keeper Matvei Safonov to give the Gunners a dream start.
The early goal by Arsenal spurred Luis Enrique's PSG side into a sustained period of pressure but despite this, Raya in the Arsenal goal remained untroubled. The French champions did have a good chance when Georgian international Khvicha Kvaratskhelia found space in a dangerous area but Gabriel cleared the ball to safety. As the half wore on, Fabian Ruiz had a decent effort which was headed over the bar and Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue also fired over the bar from outside the area.
As the match approached half time Arsenal had a great opportunity to double their advantage when Havertz got on the end of an Odegaard pass but Marquinhos made a crucial block to prevent his side going into the break trailing by a second goal. Arsenal then got a corner deep into injury time but to the Arsenal fans bewilderment, the referee Daniel Siebert blew his whistle to end the half just as Saka was preparing to deliver the cross.
Second half
The second half began much in the same manner as the first half as PSG kept the pressure on without creating any clear cut chances, but that all changed in the 60th minute when Kvaratskhelia got by Cristhian Mosquera who in his efforts to contain the striker brought him down inside the box. A quick VAR check confirmed the onfield decision and current Ballon d’or holder Dembele sent the Arsenal No.1 the wrong way to level the tie.
The mood inside the stadium changed now that PSG were back in the tie and they kept the pressure on to try win the match in regular time with efforts from Vitinha and Kvaratskhelia coming closest, the latter having his shot deflected onto the post by Myles Lewis-Skelly. As the match headed to extra time PSG had another decent chance as Bradley Barcola got away from the last man but watched as his shot harmlessly sliced into the side netting.
Extra time
Thirty extra minutes was the requirement after the first 90 failed to separate the teams and both sides looked a little match weary as the game wore on. With 100 minutes on the clock it was Arsenal's time to protest loudly for a penalty when Noni Madueke got past Mendes and charged into the box, the full-back looked to have bundled into the back of the winger and brought him to the ground, but referee Sibert again waved away the protestations, then to further antagonise the supporters, he booked Declan Rice and Manager Mikel Arteta for their appeals.
Just like the 90 minutes prior to extra time, PSG had a lot of possession but were frustrated by the solid Arsenal back line time after time, and as the extra time began to run out and with barely seconds on the clock, Viktor Gyokeres seen his strike deflected wide and the match went to penalties. Heartbreak for the gunners as their European exploits this season would be decided by a penalty shootout. After the match, Arteta was asked if they would be back in the final soon, "I don't know, we're going to have to earn that. The same progression that we had in the last few years, we're going to have to do that over again and the level is increasing every single season. We have had an incredible competition, we haven't lost a single match in the competition, but the reality is that when something had to go our way, especially in the boxes with the penalty that was given against Mosquera and the penalty to Madueke and the penalty kicks, those margins didn’t go for us."
💬 "We're going to have to try to turn that feeling into fuel to improve and reach another level."
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 30, 2026
Mikel reflects on a memorable campaign 👇
Progress
Despite losing a major final in the cruellest way possible, Arsenal can take something away from the defeat and believe fully now that they will get this done sooner rather than later. In the last three years, the Gunners have reached the quarter finals, semi finals and now the final of the Champions league and can only look to the Premier league where they had three successive 2nd place finishes before finally getting over the line and becoming champions this season. On a tough night in Budapest, Arsenal scored in open play against the holders and completely nullified the strongest strike force in European football who could only manage to score with a penalty, they will surely be back again and maybe next time it will be the turn of the team in red and white to hoist the cup aloft.
