Arsenal suffer shoot-out heartbreak as PSG retain their crown | OneFootball

Arsenal suffered a penalty shoot-out heartbreak in Budapest as Paris Saint-Germain retained their Champions League crown.

It had been 20 years since Arsenal's last Champions League final as the Gunners looked to at last put the famous trophy in their cabinet and in Budapest they had the best possible start seven minutes in.

There was an element of luck about the goal as the ball bounced off of Leonardo Trossard which freed Kai Havertz. There was still much to do for the German who ran towards goal before firing a powerful shot into the roof of the net giving Matvey Safonov no chance to save it.

From that point on the first half was Arsenal defending and Paris Saint-Germain trying, but not succeeding, in finding a way through.

Perhaps the French team should have been given a penalty in the 16th minute when a PSG corner bounced awkwardly towards Bukayo Saka. The ball then seemed to come off both of Saka's arms before he cleared it. In the Premier League it would be a surprise to see a penalty given for that but in the Champions League the opposite was true. Saka and Arsenal escaped without punishment though.

Despite all of that Parisian possession, Arsenal had the best chance shortly before the break when Havertz again found space only for Marquinhos to thwart him this time.

Indeed, the first half probably summed up its final few minutes which saw Mikel Arteta's team spend about a minute choosing who to take a throw-in. From that resulting throw they won a corner – Saka took so long to take it that referee Daniel Siebert blew for half-time before it was even taken.

The second period followed a similar pattern, although PSG did at least shop some more zip in their attacking play.

Indeed, it was that extra verve going forward that helped draw them level. A neat one-two resulted in Cristhian Mosquera bundling Khvicha Kvaratskhelia over in the box with the referee pointing to the penalty spot. Mosquera had been booked early in the second half for time wasting but managed to escape a second booking.

After Vitinha briefly shielded the ball it was Ousmane Dembélé who took the resulting penalty, sending David Raya the wrong way and comfortably stroking the ball into the corner to level the score.

The goal forced Mikel Arteta to abandon his defensive plan with Viktor Gyökeres immediately brought on for Martin Odegaard while Jurrien Timber took the place of Mosquera, who would be unlucky to get so lucky again.

It was at that point that the final started to open up a little. Arsenal now had some reason to go forward but that only left spaces for Luis Enrique's side on the break. Indeed, Kvaratskhelia had a shot blocked before later on David Raya had to be quick to stop substitute Bradley Barcola from going through on goal.

We hadn't seen too much of the typical brilliance from Vitinha in Budapest but the Portuguese playmaker came close to finding a late winner when his shot from the edge of the area just cleared the crossbar. Then, in the final seconds of the game Barcola found himself in behind but his shot was wildly into the side netting.

Instead, the game went to extra-time, which doesn't always improve the quality of a game. Indeed, the main talking point was an Arsenal shout for a penalty as Nono Madueke and Nuno Mendes both tussled to the ground. Madueke may have had a case if he hadn't locked arms with Mendes. Regardless, both Declan Rice and Mikel Arteta were booked for their protests.

Another 15 minutes couldn't find a decisive goal so the final went to penalties for the first time in a decade in the Champions League.

It was PSG taking first in front of their fans and they had a decided advantage after two goals scored with Eberechi Eze missing his spot kick after Gyökeres had converted his.

However, Raya saved Nuno Mendes' penalty with Rice converting his. Achraf Hakimi and Gabriel Martinelli both scored their next two with Lucas Beraldo scoring PSG's fifth.

That meant it was all down to Gabriel Magalhães – one of Arsenal's best players this season – who had to score in order to send the shoot-out into sudden death. But the Brazilian defender blazed his effort over the bar to condemn Arsenal to another European final defeat.