Arsenal’s Champions League final loss in Budapest will sting for various reasons that go beyond the result itself, particularly given how close they came to making history.
Losing a lesser cup competition may not carry the same heartbreak as falling short in one of Europe’s most prestigious tournaments, especially when defeat comes via a penalty shootout.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal entered the final as underdogs, fully aware of the challenge posed by a highly motivated Paris Saint-Germain team seeking to become one of the few teams to win consecutive UEFA Champions League titles.
However, when Arsenal scored early, it felt as though another memorable European night was unfolding before their supporters.
Arsenal’s quadruple hopes, which had captured the imagination of fans midway through the season, finally came to an end, with only a controversial league triumph to show for their efforts.
Heading into the UEFA Champions League final, it felt as though clubs across England would put rivalries aside and throw their support behind Arsenal in a bid to capture every UEFA competition this season after Crystal Palace and Aston Villa lifted the UEFA Conference League and Europa League, respectively.
Instead, the reaction that followed only reinforced the belief among many supporters that Arsenal may be the most hated club in England.
Having finished as Premier League runners-up from 2022 to 2025, Arsenal finally ended their long wait for a league title and arrived in Budapest chasing an unprecedented double, as they hoped to secure the club’s first-ever UEFA Champions League crown.
Kai Havertz’s sixth-minute opener gave fans every reason to believe history was within reach, but by the final whistle, those dreams had been shattered.
Ousmane Dembélé’s 65th-minute penalty brought PSG level, and after 120 minutes of football failed to separate the two sides, the contest was decided from the spot.
Missed penalties from Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhães condemned Arsenal to defeat, triggering painful memories of the 2006 UEFA Champions League final, when the Gunners also surrendered a lead before ultimately losing to Barcelona.
Arsenal’s Champions League Final Loss: Why The Gunners’ Success Was Becoming Too Much For Rivals To Accept
Since taking over Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has won only the FA Cup and two Community Shields before finally delivering the club’s recent Premier League title.
As a result, rival fans of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur often made the Gunners the butt of their jokes.
Winning the Premier League — their first in 23 years — was a hard pill for rival fans to swallow, as it removed one of the biggest talking points used to mock the club.
Had Arsenal gone a step further and won the UEFA Champions League, it would have capped off the ultimate season and completed a historic double. Part of the hostility also stems from supporters wanting to protect their own clubs’ historic achievements and legacies.
For example, Manchester United fans over the years have prided themselves on being the ultimate kings of English dominance.
For decades, they held the bragging rights of winning multiple league and European doubles (and the historic 1999 Treble).
Now, Arsenal winning a Premier League and Champions League double would have lifted Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal into that same legendary conversation, matching Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest teams — a reality United fans desperately wanted to prevent.
Arsenal’s Champions League Final Loss: Why Chelsea Fans Were Backing PSG
“You’ll never sing that, you’ll never sing that, champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that.” This was the anthem that flooded social media the moment Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães missed the decisive penalty in Budapest.
It is not difficult to understand why Chelsea fans were backing the French side against Arsenal in the Champions League final.
The Blues remain the only London club to have won the competition, and having achieved the feat twice, many of their supporters take immense pride in that record and are eager to preserve it.
The banter also stems from Arsenal’s lack of European success. Despite being regarded as one of England’s biggest clubs, the Gunners have never won Europe’s premier club competition, while several clubs considered smaller in stature have managed to lift a continental trophy at some point in their history.
The moment the final whistle blew, clubs from England and across Europe that had previously won the competition began posting images of their legendary players posing with the trophy, seemingly taking subtle digs at Arsenal’s latest heartbreak.
This only reinforced the idea that Arsenal’s defeat was celebrated far beyond Paris. For many rival supporters, it was not just PSG winning the UEFA Champions League — it was Arsenal being denied the chance to finally join an exclusive club they have spent decades trying to enter.
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Why Many Neutrals Wanted Arsenal To Lose The UEFA Champions League Final
Currently tagged as the worst Premier League winners because of their style of play, many neutrals were hoping Arsenal would lose, believing their rigid approach is not worthy of a European champion.
Historically, Arsenal has been a club synonymous with beautiful, free-flowing football, an identity popularised by club legend Arsène Wenger.
However, since Mikel Arteta’s tactical shift in recent years, many fans feel that identity has gradually faded. Their structured, set-piece-oriented approach has often been criticised for taking much of the entertainment out of watching the Gunners.
This is by no means taking anything away from the Gunners’ defence, which has been impeccable this season and played a major role in their Premier League triumph.
However, in the PSG vs Arsenal final, spectators expected a thrilling end-to-end contest between two of Europe’s best sides. Instead, after Kai Havertz opened the scoring, Arteta appeared content to shut up shop and grind out a narrow 1-0 victory.
That moment perfectly summed up one of the biggest criticisms aimed at Arsenal. By the end of the game, the Gunners had set the record for the lowest possession by a UEFA Champions League finalist, finishing with just 24.7% of the ball.
As a result, many rival fans and neutrals saw the match as a battle between attractive attacking football and what they labelled “anti-football” — and they desperately wanted to see the latter punished on the grandest stage.
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Credit: IMAGO / Flash Press Agency
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