Next Saturday, 30 May, the Final of the 2025–2026 UEFA Champions League season will be played at the Puskás Arena in Budapest, Hungary. This makes Budapest the 29th city in Europe to host the final of the primary European football club competition. So, let’s take a look at the paths the two finalists, the English side Arsenal and the French side Paris Saint-Germain, have taken to get to the Final.
Up next, Paris Saint-Germain.
When Qatar Sports Investments bought a majority ownership in PSG in 2011, a lot of their upcoming success could be taken for granted right then and there. As everyone expected, the Parisians went on to dominate the French league the way Olympique Lyon did in the 2000s. PSG won 12 of the 14 Ligue 1 competitions played since the Qatari takeover.
European glory, however, came much harder—also as many people suspected.
They reached the final of the Champions League in the COVID-stricken 2019–2020 season under head coach Thomas Tuchel, but lost to Bayern Munich. It took them five years to get to one game away from the coveted trophy again, under the coaching of Luis Enrique by then. Paris Saint-Germain took that opportunity in an emphatic fashion, beating Inter Milan from Italy 5–0, the biggest margin of victory in a UCL final in football history.
This year, RC Lens gave PSG a respectable run for their money in the domestic league, but ultimately PSG finished first—again—as most people expected.
In the Champions League, they did not manage to make it to the top eight of the league phase, just like in their first UCL title-winning season. They ended with four wins, two ties, and two losses; on 14 points total in 11th place. Thus, they had to play a domestic French play-off tie against AS Monaco: a 3–2 victory on the road and a 2–2 draw on their home turf sent them to the Round of 16 against the English side Chelsea.
Chelsea and PSG had met in the final of the first-ever 32-team FIFA Club World Cup over the summer of 2025, and Chelsea bested the Parisians 3–0. This time, however, Enrquie’s men breezed through the opposition, winning 5–2 at home, then 3–0 in London, UK, for an impressive 8–2 aggregate scoreline. Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored three out of those eight goals, despite coming on as a substitute in the 62nd minute in the first leg.
They then faced opposition from the English Premier League again in the last eight, the reigning champions, Liverpool. However, the Reds were far from their league-winning form at the time they met, and eventually fell short: PSG won both the home and away tie 2–0. Current Ballon d’Or holder forward Ousmane Dembélé from France scored a brace in the second leg at Anfield.
Then came the Semi-Final against Bayern Munich—which gave us a game to remember for generations of football fans to come.
Bayern took an early lead with a Harry Kane penalty in Paris, France, but PSG fought back. By the 58th minute, the home side were up 5–2, with two goals each from Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia, and one from Portuguese midfielder João Neves. However, in yet another twist, the Germans ended up making the tie close for the rematch, climbing back to a one-goal deficit: that’s right, the game ended 5–4 (!).
The rematch in Munich, Germany, did not bring the goal frenzy we got to witness in the first game. PSG took the lead this time, courtesy of Dembélé again, while Bayern were only good for a late equalizer by Kane. Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the Final with 6–5 on aggregate, where they have the chance to become the first club to defend their UCL title since Real Madrid in 2018. They will have to best Arsenal to achieve that, who have just won their first English Premier League title in 22 years.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has scored the most goals for PSG in this UCL campaign at ten, followed by Ousmane Dembélé with seven. Portuguese midfielder Vitinha follows them on the list with six goals.
Last season, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal met in the UCL Semi-Final. Then, PSG ended up advancing with 3–1 on aggregate and went on to win the trophy.
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