Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Arsenal go head-to-head for the biggest prize in men’s European club football when they meet in the UEFA Champions League final at Budapest’s Puskás Aréna this Saturday (30 May).
PSG, who beat Internazionale to lift the trophy for the first time last year, can become only the second team to retain it since the competition was rebranded in 1992, after Real Madrid.
Arsenal, crowned Premier League champions for a fourth time last week, return to the final for the first time in 20 years, when a Gunners squad led by Thierry Henry lost to Barcelona 2-1 at the Stade de France.
There’s recent history between these teams, too: they met in the semi-finals last season, PSG winning 3-1 on aggregate en route to the title and a 2025 calendar-year sextuple.
Their routes to Budapest, though, could hardly have been more different. The London side won all eight of their league-phase matches — the first club to manage that in the competition’s history — and conceded just four goals, before seeing off Bayer Leverkusen (3-1), Sporting CP (1-0) and Atlético Madrid (2-1) in the knockouts. PSG, by contrast, took a less direct route: after finishing 11th in the league phase, they beat Monaco 5-4 in the play-off, then found their straps in thrashing Chelsea 8-2, brushed aside Liverpool 4-0 and surviving a remarkable 6-5 aggregate semi-final with Bayern Munich to progress to the final.
But who will come out on top in Hungary? Here are the key players, dates and viewing details.
Stars to watch in the Champions League final
PSG’s threat runs through reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé. The 29-year-old Frenchman has been limited this season through injury, though he still managed to score 19 goals and contribute 11 assists in 39 games in all competitions (including seven strikes in the Champions League, including three monumental goals against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals).
Around him sit Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the metronomic Vitinha, Paris 2024 silver medallist Désiré Doué, and Bradely Barcola, PSG’s top goalscorer in Ligue 1 this season with 11 goals to his name as PSG won a 14th (and 12th consecutive) Ligue 1 title.
Arsenal have plenty of firepower of their own in Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, and Viktor Gyökeres (14 Premier League goals this season), but it’s their defence that is arguably their strongest calling card.
The English champions have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League this season (26) and have a resolute backline, spearheaded by the centre-back duo of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães, shielded by David Raya‘s club-record-equalling 19 league clean sheets.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/psg-arsenal-ucl-final-2026-information-watch-live
