The team that had never won the Champions League had two champions in its ranks. One, Kepa Arrizabalaga, was a substitute goalkeeper when Chelsea snatched it from the favorite Manchester City in a final played under the rigors of the pandemic in Porto. That match was decided by a goal from Kai Havertz, Arsenal’s second European champion. “I will never forget it. It was my childhood dream,” he explained before another final in which he left his mark again. Because Havertz scored again and showed that, unclassifiable as he is due to his versatility on the pitch, what seems evident is that he is a player for important matches. For important moments, like the one this very month when he appeared at the corner kick to give his team a goal against Burnley that ultimately sealed the victory in the Premier League.
Havertz’s role is debated. Arteta tried to fit him into the midfield, but he is always more effective the closer he is to the goal, in an undefined position that fluctuates between the false nine and either flank. Havertz is not a goalscorer, but he always contributes. He is not a passer, but his assist numbers are excellent. Arteta describes him as: “Humble, patient, and with a great love for the game.” He is one of the coach’s favorites, who had no doubts when assembling the lineup. Havertz comes from two serious injuries and surgeries in the last fifteen months. His return was also hampered by two breaks due to muscle ailments. But the coach pushed him like few others in the final. The player gave him the goal that opened the scoring and in some way defined the match, was close to the second before halftime, contributed defensive help, and reached extra time with cramps, with his socks down and lactate through the roof. It was then, and only then, that Arteta decided Eberechi Eze would take his place.
Havertz was 11 meters away from repeating as a hero. From that distance, Dembélé faced David Raya to deceive the Spanish goalkeeper and put the equalizer in the net. It had all been the result of a fire started by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the great Georgian dribbler of Paris Saint-Germain, a daring player who even on his worst days always leaves something different from the others. Just ask Cristhian Mosquera, who went from center-back at Valencia to full-back at Arsenal. Arteta likes to line up strong players on the flanks but accepts that they can suffer in tight spaces. Mosquera first got beaten by a wall pass and then by Kvaratskhelia, causing the penalty that brought the match to parity.
However, the key names of the final were not written in the starting lineups. Before the match, one of Arteta’s assistants gathered the substitutes, formed a huddle, and gave them a rallying speech. Many of them were going to have their moment. In a football context that demands exhausting efforts and where ninety minutes are much longer than those Juanito glimpsed on European nights at the Bernabéu, the end of the final was left in the hands of the players who started on the bench. Arteta, coming from times of scarcity in the squad depth, managed the situation so that he started extra time with up to six players with fresh legs, substituted the defensive midfielder, the right-back, and all the men from midfield onwards. Luis Enrique was more reluctant; his ideal eleven had also seemed more defined than his rival’s throughout the campaign.
⚽ 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 than anyone.
— Movistar Plus Deportes (@MPlusDeportes) May 30, 2026
Havertz scores the first goal of the #UCLFinal for Arsenal.#LaCasaDelFútbol pic.twitter.com/Ts4hIruQd3
Arsenal improved after suffering the equalizer and raised their pressing line a few meters as PSG’s best men marched exhausted to the bench. Marquinhos, Vitinha, Fabián, Dembélé, and Kvaratskhelia made that journey. The very fast Nuno Mendes losing a one-on-one against Madueke that ended in a dull action for which Arsenal asked for a penalty must be framed in that scenario of fatigue and agony. PSG suffered it above all, reaching the penalty shootout after enduring a final siege.
And there Safonov, their goalkeeper, did not need to make saves to celebrate victory. Brazilian center-back Gabriel and London attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze, the boy who spent five years in Arsenal’s youth academy and cried for a week when at thirteen he was told he had to leave, missed their shots. Last summer he returned after dodging an offer from Tottenham, Arsenal’s eternal rival, crowned as Cup champion with Crystal Palace and as one of the most talented footballers in his country. But at the threshold of glory, he was shut out and PSG lifted their second orejona.
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