Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will meet on Saturday for the final act of the 2025-26 Champions League, the most-awaited game of the season. Arsenal are back in the final for the first time since 2006 when they lost to Barcelona, and they face a PSG tham that are back for the second year in a row after playing their second-ever Champions League final last season. They won that one to take home the title after having lost to Bayern Munich in 2020. In the modern era of the European tournament, only Real Madrid have been able to win two Champions League finals in a row, a threepeat from 2015-16 to 17-18 and Luis Enrique's side have the chance to replicate the success of the Spanish giants.
The French side thrashed Inter 5-0 last season in one of the most dramatic Champions League final performances in recent history. While PSG were widely regarded as arguably the best team in the world, Inter's downfall was also shaped by a series of costly mistakes, errors that Mikel Arteta and Arsenal must avoid repeating. Let's take a closer look at them.
How to watch Arsenal vs. PSG, odds
- Date: Saturday, May 30 | Time: 12 p.m. ET
- Location: Puskas Arena -- Budapest, Hungary
- TV: CBS | Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: PSG +130; Draw +230; Arsenal +220
The opening 15 minutes
First of all, Inter had a terrible start to the final. The Nerazzurri came from a challenging end of the season where they failed to win both Coppa Italia and Serie A titles and all the pressure was on the Champions League final against PSG, especially after losing the 2023 final against Manchester City and winning a series of eventful games such as the two-legged semifinal against Barcelona. They could feel the pressure and seemed exhausted, both physically and mentally. PSG, on the other hand, were completely free in their minds, and we could all see it in the opening 15 minutes. Arsenal can count themselves lucky to be in a different boat.
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Inter struggled to create meaningful chances and, most notably, appeared reluctant to impose their own game. They repeatedly gave the ball away in dangerous midfield areas and lacked the composure that had defined them under Simone Inzaghi. Under his tenure, Inter had built attacks confidently from the back, with defenders such as Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi playing a crucial role in progression. In the final, however, they were unable to replicate that approach and PSG took advantage of them, especially as the game was getting underway, and it's no coincidence they were able to score two goals in the opening 20 minutes with former Inter winger Achraf Hakimi and Desire Doue. Basically, the game was over before even starting. Arsenal must take the opposite approach. Arteta's side should look to impose their own game, also remaining disciplined enough to avoid exposing themselves to PSG's wingers at the beginning of the final.
Managerial decisions
Speaking of managers, Inzaghi lost control of his own team in the final and some of his choices made it pretty clear. As a matter of fact, he decided to step down from his role only a few days after losing the match in Munich before accepting a new job at Al-Hilal where he became the highest paid manager in the world. After the disastrous first half, Inzaghi decided not to make any changes at halftime, but then waited eight minutes into the second half to replace both Federico Dimarco and Benjamin Pavard with Nicolo Zalewski and Yann Bisseck. The German defender was forced to come off the pitch nine minutes later due to injury and was replaced by Matteo Darmian while Carlos Augusto came in for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, shifting Zalewski to a central midfielder role he had only played for a few minutes in his career.
To be clear, while some of the blame does fall on Inzaghi and these tactical decisions, any loss as lopsided as Inter's 5-0 defeat to PSG cannot be explained by coaching mistakes alone. The collapse was also shaped by everything that happened in the weeks leading up to the final, both mentally and physically.
Why it will be different this year
And this leads to the final point: why it will be different this year with Arsenal. Inter arrived at the 2025 Champions League final mentally broken after losing the Coppa Italia semifinals to AC Milan and the Scudetto in the last weeks of the season, with Napoli clinching the title one week before the final that took place in Munich. Strangely enough, Inter seemed lost with too much pressure on their shoulders after winning the heroic and unforgettable semifinals against Barcelona, and despite having the experience of losing the 2023 final to Manchester City. This time it seemed they could actually make it. On the other side, reports suggested that their coach, Inzaghi, was ready to leave the Nerazzurri and join Al-Hilal, similarly to what happened in 2010 when Jose Mourinho joined Real Madrid a few days after winning the European tournament with Inter. It turned out it wasn't the case. Arsenal, on the other hand, arrive at the final with a completely different atmosphere surrounding the club. After securing their first Premier League title in more than two decades, Arteta's side head into the biggest match in European soccer full of confidence, hoping to not make the same mistakes that led Inter to one of the most catastrophic performances in the history of the Champions League finals.
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