Arsenal’s long road back to Europe’s top table reaches its defining night on Saturday as they face Paris St Germain in the UEFA Champions League final, chasing a first crown that would seal the renaissance engineered by Mikel Arteta.
The London club held off Manchester City to claim a first Premier League crown for 22 years last week. With the suffocating pressure of trying to deliver the Premier League title now released, they will seek a glittering trophy that would see them match the legend of Arsene Wenger’s 2003-04 Invincibles.
Just as in 2006 when they lost to Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona in their only previous appearance in the final, Arsenal will start as slight underdogs. But no one should be in any doubt about Arsenal’s ability to deliver on the biggest of stages.
They face a formidable challenge in Budapest against Luis Enrique’s outstanding PSG team — a rare blend of eye-catching flair, intelligence and hard graft.
In the Premier League, Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets and in the Champions League they have kept a competition-high nine shutouts, conceding only six goals in 14 unbeaten games.
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While reigning champions PSG have been delighting the purists, Arsenal have shown scant regard for critics of their more pragmatic approach and will not be about to tamper with what has become a watertight formula on Saturday.
“The first goal is going to be key,” former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson said looking ahead to the final. “PSG will be worried about going 1-0 down to Arsenal, because they’ll know they’ll be up against it — they’ll be scared of losing the first goal.”
Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat by Barcelona in 2006 was followed three years later by a run to the semi-finals. After that it was as if they were making up the numbers amongst Europe’s elite with seven successive last-16 exits before five seasons when they failed to even qualify for it.
Even when Arteta returned to the club as manager in 2019 it took a while for Arsenal to re-establish themselves in Europe’s most prestigious club competition. But since then the progress has been impressive.
Two years ago they lost by the odd goal against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, before reaching the semi-finals last season, falling to Luis Enrique’s PSG again over two tight legs.
Spaniard Arteta felt a deep sense of grievance after that loss just over a year ago — claiming that defeat would make his team even more hungry to conquer Europe. Now they have the chance to set the record straight and complete the journey from contenders to champions of Europe.
