Paris Saint-Germain has secured back-to-back Champions League titles after a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in Budapest, with the match ending 1-1 after extra time. The French giants became only the second team in the modern era to retain the trophy, matching Real Madrid’s historic achievement. Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes missed the decisive penalty, firing over the bar to hand PSG the win. Captain Marquinhos emphasized the team’s mentality from day one, noting that while winning once is hard, repeating that success is even more difficult under coach Luis Enrique’s guidance.
Luis Enrique joined elite company as a three-time Champions League-winning coach, alongside Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola. His squad, with an average age under 24 in the starting lineup, has the potential to dominate for years, with the next target being a three-peat like Madrid achieved from 2016-18. After falling behind to Kai Havertz’s sixth-minute goal, PSG struggled to break down Arsenal’s sturdy defense until Ousmane Dembélé converted a 65th-minute penalty to level the score, taking the final to extra time for the first time in a decade.
Arsenal, despite winning the Premier League last week and topping the Champions League first stage with a perfect record, couldn’t overcome PSG’s dominance on the biggest stage. Manager Mikel Arteta acknowledged PSG as „the best team in the world” and urged his team to use the pain as fuel for future improvement. The Gunners have now played 226 European Cup or Champions League matches without winning the trophy, the longest drought of any club without a title in the competition’s history.
French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the team on X, declaring that „a new star is shining over Paris” and telling PSG players they are „making all of Europe dream. France is proud.” The victory cements PSG’s status as Europe’s dominant force, with the team showing resilience against a tough Arsenal side that applied the best defense in the tournament but couldn’t withstand PSG’s possession-heavy approach and clinical penalty shootout performance.
Ez a cikk a Neural News AI (V1) verziójával készült.
Forrás: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/30/nx-s1-5841380/psg-champions-league-victory-against-arsenal.