So it was in the Hungarian capital that Luis Enrique and his players were set to defend their European title, and almost exactly a year to the day after their first triumph, the objective was, of course, clear: to beat the Gunners and secure a second star. Standing in their way was a final – and formidable – opponent: the newly crowned English champions, who had gone unbeaten with eight wins in the league phase of the competition before defeating Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1-1, 2-0), Sporting Clube de Portugal (1-0, 0-0) and Atlético Madrid (1-1, 1-0).
The Londoners got off to a flying start and put a dampener on the French side’s hopes right from the off. In midfield, Kai Havertz (5’) intercepted a clearance from Marquinhos and set off one-on-one against Matvey Safonov, firing the ball under the crossbar to open the scoring (0–1, 5’). It was a bad omen, as the team that scored the first goal has won each of the last 11 finals in the competition... The Rouge et Bleu didn’t give up, however, and tried to turn the tide, but Fabian Ruiz’s shot went wide (13').
The minutes ticked by and Paris, spurred on by nearly 20,000 fans, dominated possession without posing any real threat against an Arsenal side camped in front of their goal, until Ousmane Dembélé’s blocked attempt (37’). After some fine work by Nuno Mendes on the left, Ruiz got his head to the ball but again missed the target (43'), as did Dembélé (45') and Désiré Doué (45'+2). The Gunners went close to getting another goal, but Marquinhos blocked Havertz’s shot at the last moment (45'+3).
The Parisians came back out after the break with every intention of winning, and following a one-two with Dembélé down the left, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was brought down by Cristhian Mosquera, prompting referee Siebert to correctly award a penalty (62'). The Ballon d'Or winner stepped up to face Raya and fired a low shot into the bottom left corner to equalise (1-1, 65')!
The equaliser gave the Parisians a boost, and the number 10, once again, fired wide (72'), while Vitinha shot over (73'). On a counter-attack, Kvaratskhelia left the English defenders in his wake, cut into the box and shot at goal, but the ball, deflected by Gabriel, struck the post (77')! Marquinhos fails to hit the target with his header (82'), Bradley Barcola is denied by Raya (85'), Vitinha hits the crossbar (89'), and Barcola narrowly misses the target again (90'+7)… Time was running out and the 61,035 spectators in attendance were treated to an extra thirty minutes of excitement. More than that, in fact, as neither side could find a way through during extra time. So it was a penalty shoot-out, in which, as in the other three finals played this season, Paris came out on top (5-4)!
Paris won on penalties to secure their second star, crowning an exceptional campaign for Les Rouge et Bleu and another fantastic season. They also became the first French club to achieve the feat of retaining their title, and claimed a fifth trophy this season following the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the Trophée des Champions and Ligue 1. Thank you guys, what a season (again)!
