It was confirmed what has been evident for a while: Paris Saint-Germain is the best team in the world. In a fiercely contested final, after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes of play, the Parisians defeated Arsenal 4-3 on penalties at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest and lifted the Champions League trophy for the second consecutive time.
At the start of the match, PSG would have possession of the ball; however, it would be Mikel Arteta's team that struck first. In the 5th minute, Kai Havertz would speed down the left flank and, instead of sending a cross back, would unleash a powerful shot to the near post that would be unstoppable for Matvey Safonov to make it 1-0.
Despite being behind on the scoreboard from the start, the Parisian team would maintain the same initial scheme of holding the ball and trying to force an error or gap in the defense of a Gunners team that would rely on pressing during build-up and counter-attacks.
At 25 minutes, Bukayo Saka would send a dangerous cross into the area, but Safonov would just manage to prevent Leandro Trossard from receiving it. Although it would raise alarms in Luis Enrique's coaching staff due to a head injury with the London team's own attacker after the clearance, the Russian goalkeeper would continue without problems on the field.
With some isolated chances from both sides, especially from the Parisians, but without more goals, the great definition would go to halftime without changes in the score. In the second half, the rhythm of the match would be similar: a dominant PSG and an Arsenal that held on and waited for its moment to seek the second goal.
After several near misses at David Raya's goal, the Parisians would finally get a key chance to equalize the match: a penalty. In the 61st minute, Cristhian Mosquera would commit a clear foul on Kvaratskhelia in the area. The responsibility of taking the penalty would fall to Ousmane Dembélé, and he would not miss: 1-1.
Clearly fired up after the equalizer, PSG would start to further corner Arsenal, which would translate into clearer goal-scoring opportunities. For example, in the 76th minute, Kvaratskhelia would take on the defense and almost put his team ahead, but his shot would hit the post and go for a corner, and shortly after, the substitute Bradley Barcola would almost find himself one-on-one with Raya, but he would push the ball too far ahead and the Spanish goalkeeper would manage to cut off the play.
As the regulation time drew to a close, PSG would have the last two clear chances of the match with a powerful shot from Vitinha from outside the area that would go just over the crossbar and a shot from Barcola that would hit the outside of the net of Arsenal's goal. With no further changes in the score, the final would go to extra time.
After a first extra time that was scarce in opportunities, mainly due to the fatigue of both teams, at the start of the second period, the Parisians would again be close to turning the tide. In the 106th minute, Barcola would send in a header that could have reached Gonçalo Ramos for the goal, were it not for Raya, who would manage to clear the ball with a dive.
Although Arsenal would manage to have its moment of prominence towards the end of the 120 minutes, it could not achieve its long-awaited decisive goal, and the great final would go to penalties.
The penalty shootout
1 | PSG | 1-0 | Gonçalo Ramos would nail it to the right corner while Raya dove to the left
