We are into the 2025/26 Champions League final after a night that no Gooner will ever forget.
Bukayo Saka’s goal a minute before half-time saw us claim a 2-1 aggregate win against Atletico Madrid to book our ticket to the showpiece in Budapest, and spark celebrations across the world as our supporters toast the latest achievement from Mikel Arteta’s men.
But amongst the celebrations, there may be some moments, stats and history made that you might not have spotted, so we’ve rounded them up:
TENSION, THEN ELATION
The scenes at full-time at Emirates Stadium will live long in the memory of anyone fortunate enough to be present. The referee’s final whistle was met with a roar the like of which has seldom been witnessed in our arena.
Tension, apprehension and nerves gave way to a full-blown party, as we could finally start to celebrate being back in the Champions League final, after a 20-year wait.
The game had been closely fought throughout. The first shot on target of the whole evening came in the last minute of the first half, when Leandro Trossard’s effort was spilt. The second shot on target was the rebound that Saka tapped home seconds later.
The second half was more open than the cagey first 45 minutes, as the visitors began to come more into the game. But the work-rate of every player, epitomised by the tireless Viktor Gyokeres up front, saw us through to yet another clean sheet in this competition, and a deserved win over Atletico Madrid.
The visitors didn’t test David Raya until the 56th minute, and only had two shots on target all night. There’s no doubt we were deserved winners, and if there were naturally nerves in the stands as the game wore on, the players showed none, giving a display of maturity and composure to reach the final. On to Budapest!
Read more Highlights: Arsenal 1-0 Atletico Madrid (2-1 agg)
20 YEARS OF HURT
For only the second time in our history, and the first for 20 years, we are heading to the Champions League final.
We will be at the Puskas Stadium in Budapest on Saturday, May 30, in the 34th final since the competition was rebranded as the Champions League. Our only other appearance in the showpiece match was in 2006, when we lost 2-1 to Barcelona at the Stade de France in Paris.
82 teams from 53 European leagues have been represented in the tournament since the first qualifiers back in July, and now just three remain. We will face either the holders Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich, who complete their semi-final on Wednesday night in Germany, with the French side leading 5-4 from the first leg.
If Bayern progress, it means the top two teams from the league phase will go head-to-head in the final. We beat Bayern 3-1 at home on Matchday 5 to finish three points ahead of them with a 100% record. We also beat PSG in last season’s league phase, though the French side knocked us out in the semi-final en route to lifting the trophy.
Our 20-year absence from the final is the longest gap since Atletico Madrid’s 40-year stint between 1974 and 2014.
Read more Arteta on “magical” semi-final win
GUNNERS AT FULL POWER
With the exception of Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber, Mikel Arteta had a fully fit squad to choose from for this most crucial of games. The manager decided to stick with the same starting XI that had blown away Fulham at the weekend, and was able to pack his bench with talent as well.
It was a sharp contrast to last season’s semi-final against PSG, when we were without several first-team stars. Of our eight unused subs from last season’s first leg, only young goalkeeper Tommy Setford is still at the club. Gabriel was among those missing for both legs last season, and his partnership with William Saliba was a big part of our success tonight.
The two have started each of our last 12 Premier League and Champions League games together – including all of the knockout games in Europe, and they have been magnificent. Gabriel made a superb recovering tackle to deny Giuliano Simeone after he had rounded David Raya, and looked certain to score.
But all night, the two marshalled our defence superbly. It was our 30th clean sheet in all competitions this season, our most in a season for more than 30 years. Defensive stability has been the bedrock of our European campaign, and it’s no surprise we boast the best defensive record in the competition.
WINNING FEELING
This was our 42nd victory in all competitions during 2025/26, the most victories we have ever racked up in a single campaign. The previous best of 41 came in 1970/71 – a season, incidentally, in which we won the two biggest trophies we were competing for at the time.
Our 42 wins have come from 59 matches, and include 11 in the Champions League. The tally also includes 24 wins at Emirates Stadium, the most we have ever won in a single campaign here since moving from Highbury in 2006.
We have just one more game here at home this season, against Burnley on Monday week. We could be in for another memorable night.
Read more Rice full of emotion on historic UCL night
EURO-STARS
By avoiding defeat, we set a new club record for the longest unbeaten run in the European Cup/Champions League, extending it to 14 games.
The last time we tasted defeat in Europe were the two legs of last season’s semi-final, and prior to that we had gone eight games without losing in the competition. Our record in Europe so far this season is P14 W11 D3 L0 F29 A6.
It’s the most victories we have ever amassed in a single campaign in the competition, and keeps alive the possibility of lifting the trophy unbeaten, which has been achieved by 11 clubs previously, but never across as many matches.
Indeed, of the 44 instances of a team playing 14+ games in a Champions League campaign, we are now the only one to remain unbeaten through our first 14 matches of a single edition.l
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