Nuno Mendes does it again! Wins the Champions League, Sporting proud | OneFootball

Nuno Mendes is a Champions League winner once again! The full-back developed at Sporting started the match and helped PSG overcome Arsenal in the penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw at the end of 120 minutes in Budapest.

However, it was Arsenal who started better. The "Gunners", recently crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, did not take long to open the scoring. In the 6th minute, Leandro Trossard intercepted a pass and Kai Havertz burst towards the opposition penalty area before firing a powerful shot from an angle, sending the ball in by the near post, leaving Matvei Safonov with no chance.

The reigning champions tried to respond and dominated the rest of the first half, but Arsenal's defence, brilliantly led by Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba, did not allow any clear scoring chances. However, in the second half, in the 65th minute, Cristhian Mosquera brought down Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the London side's penalty area after a good team move by Paris and Ousmane Dembélé sent David Raya the wrong way from the resulting penalty to level the match.

The match went to extra time and then to penalties. There, Eberechi Eze fired wide, but shortly afterwards Nuno Mendes saw his penalty saved by Raya. Then, with the final penalty, Gabriel fired over the bar and allowed PSG to become the first team to successfully defend the trophy since Real Madrid in 2018.

Sporting did not want to miss the celebrations and, through social media, showed how proud they were of the 23-year-old full-back with a congratulatory message. "Congratulations on winning the UEFA Champions League, Kandimba. A source of pride", it reads.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.