Arsenal fell short in a penalty shootout against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2025–26 Champions League final, furthering the club’s historic agony on Europe’s grandest stage.The Gunners have now played 226 European Cup/Champions League matches, the most by any team without ever hoisting the prestigious club trophy. Arsenal arrived to Budapest intent to finally rid themselves of the bleak record, but instead, all they did was extend it. Mikel Arteta’s men got off to a dream start at the Puskás Arena when Kai Havertz rifled a left-footed strike into the roof of the net inside of six minutes. The newly crowned Premier League champions held onto the lead until the 65th minute, when Ousmane Dembélé equalized from the spot. Arsenal held firm, denying Luis Enrique’s men any more success in regulation and extra time before they crumbled in the title-deciding penalty shootout. Viktor Gyökeres, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli all converted, but Eberechi Eze and Gabriel both failed to even hit the target, dooming the north London outfit to a 4–3 defeat on penalties. Arteta’s Game Plan Condemned Gunners to Historic LowMikel Arteta could not mastermind his way to a Champions League final. | Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Getty ImagesArsenal’s tactics after Havertz’s opener were clear: sit back, defend and strike on the counter attack. It’s a system that largely worked for the Gunners in the Premier League, along with their set piece magic. Yet as the game wore on, it was glaringly obvious that the English side had zero foothold on the match. In 120 minutes, Arsenal mustered just one shot on target—Havertz’s goal—and completed only 196 passes compared to PSG’s 806. The Gunners ended the game with 24.7% possession, the lowest by a team in a Champions League final on record (since 2003–04), per OptaJoe. It was also the team’s lowest possession percentage under Arteta when Arsenal had 11 men on the pitch throughout the game. Yes, Arteta’s reactive game plan somewhat worked to perfection. After all, his men held the most devastating attack in Europe to just one goal, a penalty at that. Yet without any command in midfield or threat in the final third, he was left praying his side could win a penalty shootout, which is simply too risky of a mindset in a Champions League final. Arsenal’s Stars Fall Flat Under the LightsBukayo Saka might as well have not been on the pitch. | Marvin Ibo Guengoer/GES Sportfoto/Getty ImagesAll the blame for Saturday’s failure does not solely fall on Arteta. The manager could do little but watch as his biggest superstars failed to contribute in the biggest match of their careers. Bukayo Saka completed a shocking four passes in 83 minutes on the pitch, created zero chances and took one shot, which was blocked. The England international also was unsuccessful in all four of his dribble attempts and won just four of his 15 ground duels. Captain Martin Ødegaard was nearly just as anonymous. The midfielder only completed six passes and had two tackles to his name when he came off in the 67th minute. He did create one chance, but that was hardly enough to save face.Then, there’s Gabriel and Eze, two players who crumbled under the pressure in the penalty shootout. Neither even forced a save from PSG goalkeeper Matvéi Safónov, doing all the work for him and PSG while Arteta and Co. looked on in dismay.READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow