The Road to Budapest: How Arsenal and PSG Forged Their Paths to the UCL 2025-26 Final

The UCL 2025-26 Final is set, and it’s a clash that captures two very different European football narratives. On one side stands Arsenal, the club that has waited 20 years to return to European football’s grandest stage, arriving unbeaten in 14 consecutive Champions League matches. On the other side is Paris Saint-Germain, the reigning, defending champions looking to become only the second club in the Champions League era to retain the trophy.

The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal will take place at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. That remains the Gunners’ only Champions League final appearance, and the chance to finally lift the trophy they have never won is now within reach. 

UCL 2025-26 Final: Key Details

PSG booked their place in the final after a thrilling two-legged semifinal against Bayern Munich, prevailing 5-4 in Paris in the first leg before a 1-1 draw in Germany to advance. Should Luis Enrique’s side lift the trophy in Budapest, they would become only the ninth club in history to win the Champions League in back-to-back seasons, the first since Real Madrid, who claimed the trophy in three consecutive editions between 2016 and 2018.

This Champions League Final represents a rematch of last season’s semifinal, where PSG knocked Arsenal out on their way to their first-ever European Cup triumph. Now, the Gunners seek revenge on the biggest stage of all.

UEFA has selected the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary as the venue for the final. The stadium, named in honor of legendary striker and former Real Madrid icon Ferenc Puskás, previously hosted the UEFA Europa League final in 2023, but this will be the first time the Champions League final has come to the Hungarian capital.

Arsenal’s Journey to the Final: Perfection in the League Phase

Arsenal have reached the UEFA Champions League for just the second time in their history after beating Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final. Bukayo Saka’s 44th-minute strike was enough to edge them past the La Liga side in the second leg. After a six-season absence from Europe’s premier competition, under Mikel Arteta Arsenal have improved every season since to make it to the showpiece this time around.

In 2023/24 they reached the quarter-finals, while last term, eventual winners PSG ended their hopes at the semi-final stage. But this time around, they have gone an extra step to make it the final for the first time in 20 years, and the second time in their history after their 2006 defeat against Barcelona in Paris.

Arsenal’s League Phase: Historic Perfection

Arsenal became the first team in the competition’s history to win all eight matches in the league phase. Their league phase record read: W8 D0 L0 F23 A4, finishing in 1st place.

UEFA’s Arsenal reporter, Joseph Terry, said: “The league phase can be summed up in one word: perfect. No other team had a 100% winning record, plus Arsenal were top scorers and kept five clean sheets. The knockout phase has brought different kinds of challenges, and the north London side have faced up to all of them in seeing off Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atleti.”

Arsenal’s Knockout Run

The 1-1 draw in Madrid followed by the 1-0 success in the second leg at Emirates Stadium has seen Arsenal go 14 consecutive matches without defeat for the first time in their European Cup/Champions League history. Of the 44 instances of a team playing 14 or more times in a campaign, they are now the only one to remain unbeaten.

PSG’s Journey to the Final: The Defending Champions’ Dramatic Path

Paris Saint-Germain’s route to Budapest was far more turbulent than Arsenal’s serene march. PSG’s league phase record read: W4 D2 L2 F21 A11, finishing in 11th place. Unlike Arsenal’s automatic progression, Luis Enrique’s side then beat Monaco in the knockout phase play-offs, Chelsea in the last 16 and Liverpool in the quarter-finals.

PSG’s League Phase: A Bumpy Road

Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain also still had work to do to reach the knockouts. Their inconsistent league phase included notable results:

PSG’s Knockout Run: Destruction Mode Activated

While the side again had a chequered league phase, their 8-2 aggregate victory over Chelsea in the last 16 and 4-0 aggregate defeat of Liverpool in the quarter-finals served as timely reminders of their individual brilliance.

UEFA’s Paris reporter, Alex Clementson, said: “It feels a long time since Paris finished the league phase 11th and again had to come through the knockout phase play-offs, where they were pushed all the way by Monaco. The business end of the competition has brought them back to their brilliant best. Luis Enrique’s men have been irrepressible at times, serving up performances reminiscent of their title-winning campaign.”

The Epic Semi-Final: PSG vs Bayern Munich

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele scored twice each as Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 5-4 in an extraordinary encounter. The first half alone was wild, with Harry Kane giving Bayern the lead from a penalty, only for Kvaratskhelia to equalise before Joao Neves headed the hosts in front. Michael Olise made it 2-2, but a Dembele penalty in first-half stoppage time had the reigning champions back ahead at the interval.

Kvaratskhelia and Dembele then both scored again to put PSG seemingly out of sight, only for Dayot Upamecano to pull one back before Luis Diaz made it 5-4. Bayern Munich has been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League after falling 6-5 to Paris Saint-Germain in the aggregate score during the UCL semifinal. Bayern Munich could not outscore PSG as the second leg finished 1-1.

Key Players to Watch

Arsenal

Key player: Bukayo Saka came through the ranks before his breakout season with the Gunners in 2019/20. Blessed with pace and fine finishing ability, the winger, still only 24, recently passed 150 goal involvements for the club (80 goals, 70 assists).

An FA Cup winner in 2020, he is the first Englishman to score in the Champions League semi-finals two seasons running. Up front, Viktor Gyökeres looks to have emerged as the missing piece of the puzzle, unleashing pace and trickery around him.

PSG

PSG are the highest-scoring team in this season’s Champions League with 43 goals. Key player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been directly involved in 15 of those (ten goals, five assists) – a record for a PSG player in a UCL campaign.

Head-to-Head: A Rivalry Renewed

PSG and Arsenal faced each other three times in the Champions League last season. Arsenal won a league phase encounter thanks to first-half goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, but PSG prevailed when it really mattered by knocking the Gunners out at the semifinal stage.

The Coaches: A Spanish Showdown

In the Champions League final, Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique will face off — and this clash will be historic due to an important factor. This is only the fifth time in the tournament’s history that coaches of the same nationality meet in the final. 

Coach Luis Enrique: The ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid player won nine trophies during a hugely successful three-year spell in charge of the Blaugrana, then coached Spain to the EURO 2020 semi-finals and the 2021 Nations League final. He scooped a domestic double in his first season in Paris before steering them to their first Champions League title in a trophy-packed 2024/25 that also included Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France. 

Coach Mikel Arteta: Assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City from 2016 to 2019, Arteta guided Arsenal to a 14th FA Cup in his first season in charge. After eighth and fifth-placed Premier League finishes in 2021 and 2022 respectively, Arteta’s team have been runners-up in each of the last three campaigns.

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