The penalties, with two shots sent wide by Eberechi Eze and Gabriel, extended the European hegemony of PSG (Paris Saint-Germain), for the second time in a row winner of the Champions League, and boosted the philosophy and work of Spanish coach Luis Enrique, who achieved his third success as coach in the Champions League, the second with the French team, joining the one he obtained earlier with Barcelona.
The Budapest final prolonged Arsenal’s continental curse, which, despite finishing the competition undefeated, the only one to do so, and having the match on track, ended up defeated, as it happened twenty years ago, in the only final it had played so far, beaten by Barcelona.
Luis Enrique enters the elite of the Champions League
History repeated itself and that of PSG, champions for the second year in a row.
And they overcame an early goal scored by Kai Havertz, which they cancelled out on the hour mark.
Ousmane Dembelé, the Ballon d’Or of whom there had been no news until then, was awarded a penalty by Spaniard Christian Mosquera.
PSG, which adds this success to its Ligue 1 success, joins the select club of clubs that have managed to retain the title on one occasion.
There are eight, but only Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid won three under the current tournament format.
Luis Enrique, the great winner of the final, is already one of the chosen ones.
He joins Zidane, Pep Guardiola and Bob Paisley as the holders of three crowns at this event.
The better offense prevailed over the better defense in the first final since 2018 in which both teams managed to score.
Arsenal, who lost the final they played twenty years ago to Barcelona with Arsene Wenger at the helm, were unable to end their jinx.
The second time, he couldn’t either (Filed under: PSG champions of the Champions League).
Havertz silenced PSG with a lightning strike
The game got off to an unexpected start almost from the outset, which rewarded Arsenal’s free-flowing approach to the game.
It was an apparent statement of intent from Mikel Arteta’s side, who started with speed and pressure that was rewarded after just six minutes.
Marquinhos made a mess of the midfield and made a poor clearance in the face of two players from the London team.
One of them, Germany’s Kai Havertz, took the ball and ran forty meters without anyone being able to catch him.
He arrived in the box and, although off-target, fired a shot from a tight angle that beat goalkeeper Matvej Safonov.
It caught Luis Enrique’s team on the wrong foot and Arsenal took the lead.
Havert relived the happiness he tasted five years ago, in the 2021 final, when he played for Chelsea.
Then he became a hero.
His goal gave the ‘blues’ the Champions League title against Manchester City (Filed as: PSG champions of the Champions League).
Arsenal withstood the siege, but PSG kept on insisting
The goal gave way to normality in the situation.
PSG monopolized possession, absolutely (78 percent to 22) and Arsenal did what they do best, contain, defend.
Gabriel, standing tall alongside William Saliba in the center of the backline, kept out a shot on goal from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
PSG pushed Arsenal further and further into a corner, but could not find space.
Fabián Ruiz, with a header in the small area, headed the ball high.
The French team dominated, but David Raya was not in action.
The champions had no shots on target, neutralized by the English side, who had a great chance to extend their lead in the added time of the first half.
PSG, champions for the second year in a row
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Havertz’s shot was blocked by Marquinhos in Arteta’s team’s only counter-attack after the goal.
PSG needed more from Vitinha and Joao Neves.
But there was no hole in the center.
Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes lacked the depth to do any damage.
Until the hour mark, when the Parisians’ insistence was growing, came the action that gave the match a new look (Filed as: PSG Champions League winners).
PSG found the reward for their insistence
The play exposed Christian Mosquera.
The Spaniard was unable to deal with Kvaratskhelia, who went deep into the area.
He blocked him and it was a penalty. The Valencian was saved from the card, which could have been the second and the expulsion.
But Arsenal were not spared a goal. Ousmane Dembele took the penalty and made no mistake to equalize.
A new dimension, a new panorama emerged in the game.
Arsenal were unleashed and the clash opened up.
Kvaratskhelia had the second in the 77th minute on a counterattack, with the game already broken, and smashed the ball against a post (Filed as: PSG Champions League winners).
David Raya held on, but PSG ended up celebrating
Arsenal had been stretched and turned the match into an exchange of blows, in a correcalles where the Parisian threat was greater.
Bradley Barcola came close to scoring. David Raya prevented it.
And Vitinha, on the edge of the final whistle, first grazed the crossbar and then was able to avoid extra time on another counterattack.
Thirty minutes more of final on the Puskas Arena turf that increased the relevance of David Raya in key moments and took the outcome to penalties.
PSG scored four of them.
Only Nuno Mendes missed with a good action by David Raya.
But Eberechi Eze and Gabriel, the latter, shot wide to leave Arsenal without a title and PSG as Champions League winners.
Technical data
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1 – Paris SG: Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos (Illia Zabarnyi, m.106), William Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha (Lucas Beraldo, m.106), Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz (Warren Zaire-mery, m.95); Desire Doué, Ousmane Dembélé (Gonçalo Ramos, m.96+) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Bradley Barcola, m.83).
1 – Arsenal: David Raya; Christian Mosquera (Jurrien Timber, m.66), William Saliba, Gabriel, Piero Hincapié; Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly (Martin Zubimendi, m.91), Martin Odegaard (Viktor Gyokeres, m.66), Bukayo Saka (Noni Madueke, m.83), Leandro Trossard (Gabriel Martinelli, m.83) and Kai Havertz (Ebrechi Eze, m.91).
Goals: 0-1, minute 6: Kai Havertz. 1-1, 65th minute: Ousmane Dembele, penalty.
PSG scored four penalties
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Penalties: G.Ramos (PSG): goal (1-0); Gyokeres (Arsenal): goal (1-1); Doue (PSG): goal (2-1); Eze (Arsenal): miss (2-1); N.Mendes (PSG): miss (2-1); Rice (Arsenal): goal (2-2); Hakimi (PSG): goal (3-2); Martinelli (Arsenal): goal (3-3); Beraldo (PSG): goal (4-3); Gabriel (Arsenal): miss (4-3).
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER). Showed yellow cards to Christian Mosquera, Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Declan Rice and coach Mikel Arteta of Arsenal, and Joao Neves and Nuno Mendes of Paris Saint-Germain.
Incidents: Champions League final played at the Puskas Arena stadium in Budapest in front of 67,000 spectators (Filed as: PSG Champions League winners).
With information from EFE
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