Arsenal suffer heartbreaking end to epic season

They came so close but left empty-handed.

Arsenal were within a penalty shoot-out of lifting the Uefa Champions League for the first time ever but it was not to be, hearts broken by a Gabriel penalty miss that handed the trophy to Paris Saint-Germain for a second successive season.

Such a cruel way for the season to end for Arsenal and, in particular, Gabriel, the centre-back who has been a leader and one of the standout performers.

Regardless of how it concluded, it has been a phenomenal season for manager Mikel Arteta and his side, ending a 22-year wait for the Premier League. But having come so agonisingly close to completing a double no Arsenal side has ever achieved, the pain of defeat will linger.

By the end, they had trailed for only 42 minutes and 48 seconds in the Champions League this season – only 3% of their matches. Unbeaten in 90 minutes across all 15 games. Knocked out in seconds, by their last kick of the season.

“It’s very tough to accept when you are so consistent in the competition all the way to the final and you lose on penalty kicks,” Mikel Arteta told TNT Sport.

In the dressing room afterwards, Arteta told his devastated players that he was proud of them. “They’ve given us so much joy,” Arteta said. “It’s been a privilege to manage this football team, the way they carry the badge.

“We need to recognise the season we had but at the moment nobody is going to take the pain away from you.”

The Arsenal manager made some big calls that, for the best part of an hour, appeared justified.

Before the start of May, Myles Lewis-Skelly had not played in central midfield for the first team and here he was, starting in a Champions League final alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard. The teenager was confidently carrying the ball through one of the best central midfields in world football, deflecting Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s shot onto a post and sprinting back to beat Desire Doue to the ball with 10 minutes remaining.

Aged 19 years and 246 days, Lewis-Skelly became the second-youngest Englishman ever to start a Champions League final, only behind Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold in 2018 (19y 231d).

Starting Kai Havertz ahead of Viktor Gyokeres as striker was the other major decision and it paid off in the sixth minute when the German opened the scoring. Havertz raced clear and from a tight angle thundered the ball into the top corner.

He is the player for the big occasion, becoming the first player to score for two English sides in the Champions League final, after netting the winner for Chelsea against Manchester City in 2021. And he is only the third player to score in a final for two different clubs, following Cristiano Ronaldo, at Manchester United and Real Madrid and Mario Mandzukic, at Juventus and Bayern Munich.

Most of the game still lay ahead, but things were looking promising for Arsenal. The last 11 teams to score first in the Champions League final went on to win and the Gunners had never lost a European game in which Havertz had scored.

The big question ahead of the match was whether Arsenal’s monstrous defence could defend better than PSG’s blistering attack could attack. In the first half, William Saliba, Gabriel and co reduced their opponents to one shot on target, four minutes into stoppage time.

Ahead at the break, they were inching closer. Arsenal had lost only once in the last 117 matches in which they’d been leading at half time – winning 101 and drawing 15.

With the Parisians dominating possession, Arsenal continued to stand firm until they were finally breached in the 65th minute. After a sharp one-two, Cristhian Mosquera fouled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the Arsenal box and Ousmane Dembele swept in the penalty.

The equaliser completely changed the dynamic of the game. Arsenal were forced to open up, needing another goal. But that is a dangerous game against a PSG side that hit seven past Bayer Leverkusen and five past Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Bayern Munich in the competition this season.

Arsenal held on, and the game went to extra-time, the first time a Champions League final had not been decided in 90 minutes in 10 years.

Displaying Arsenal's strength in depth, Arteta brought on Martin Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze for Havertz and Lewis-Skelly. By this point he had changed his entire front four changed having earlier introduced Gyokeres, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli for Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.

But the players were exhausted from a gruelling season and it went to penalties.

Eze missed Arsenal’s second but goalkeeper David Raya saved the next from Nuno Mendes. It went to the last two. Brave Gabriel fired over the last one.

Remarkably, PSG bookended their season with penalty shoot-out victories against north London clubs, having beaten Spurs in the European Super Cup way back in August.

“It will take a while to get over, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to take another 20 years to get to another final with Mikel in charge,” former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere told TNT Sport.

As in 2006, the last and only other time they reached the Champions League final, Arsenal were defeated after taking the lead.

What a brutal way to lose it.