Remembering Arsenal's defeat to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final

20 years on, Arsenal return to the Champions League final for the first time since a night in Paris that the club's supporters have spent two decades processing. With the bet on PSG vs Arsenal odds reflecting how much has changed since that evening at the Stade de France on 17 May 2006, the Puskas Arena in Budapest represents not just a chance to win the biggest prize in European club football for the first time, but an opportunity to finally lay to rest the memory of the most painful near-miss in the club's history.

The road to Paris

Arsene Wenger's 2005-06 side had produced one of the great Champions League campaigns in the competition's history. Arsenal progressed without conceding a goal against Real Madrid, Juventus, and Villarreal in the knockout rounds, a run of defensive excellence built around the imperious form of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

They arrived at the Stade de France as genuine contenders against a Barcelona side containing Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, and a young Andres Iniesta, and with one of the great strikers of his generation in Thierry Henry leading their attack.

The match

A crowd of 79,500 watched as Lehmann was sent off early in the game, Arsenal's goalkeeper becoming the first player ever dismissed in a European Cup final after bringing down Eto'o outside the box. The goal that followed was disallowed, but the damage was done: Arsenal had 72 minutes to play with 10 men against the best team in Europe.

What followed was remarkable. Despite the setback, Arsenal took the lead through Sol Campbell towards the end of the first half. Henry had early chances, Campbell's header from a Henry free-kick gave them the lead, and for long stretches of a tense second half, the impossible looked possible. A 10-man Arsenal side, without their first-choice goalkeeper, were holding Barcelona at bay and threatening to score a second on the counter.

After an hour, Henrik Larsson came on for Barcelona and was involved in both of their goals. Barcelona equalised through Eto'o near the end of the second half, and a few minutes later, Juliano Belletti scored to give Barcelona a 2-1 victory. Two goals in five minutes, both assisted by Larsson, ended Arsenal's dream in the cruellest possible fashion. The club has not been back since. Until now.

What it means for 2026

The 2006 final left a scar on Arsenal that has never fully healed. A generation of supporters grew up with that night as their only reference point for Champions League final football, a night when a 10-man side led for over forty minutes and still lost. The players who featured that evening, Henry, Campbell, Cesc Fabregas, Freddie Ljungberg, have long since moved on, but the weight of that unfinished business has carried through to the current squad.

Mikel Arteta understands what the competition means to the fanbase and what the absence of a European title has represented for an institution of Arsenal's size. As a Champions League favourite heading into the Budapest final, his team now carry the expectations of everyone who watched that Paris night two decades ago. Whether they can deliver where that exceptional side could not is the final question hanging over this occasion.