2026 UEFA Champions League Final - PSG v Arsenal: Live Blog

Coverage of the final countdown to the 2026 UEFA Champions League Final, and updates from the match, with comment at half and full time

By Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association

20 minutes to go.

1830 BST Gyokeres and Timber come on for Odegaard and Mosquera, huge 30 minutes ahead, and PSG have the momentum

64 mins Paris Saint Germain 1-1 Arsenal Dembele scores penalty low and hard to the left

62 mins PENALTY TO PSG Foul by Mosquera

1810 BST Here we go, the biggest 45 minutes in our history awaits. Enjoy, if you can.

1803 BST I have to confess I jumped as high as I have in 20 years when that ball hit the net, brings back memories of May 2006 when Sol Campbell rose to head us in front in the Stade de France. Arsenal fans have had a lot of pain in European finals, we have lost two on Penalties (1980 and 2000), one with the last kick from the half way line (1995), the loss in Paris to Barcelona (2006) and the humbling by Chelsea (2019).

HALF-TIME Paris Saint Germain 0-1 Arsenal

Wow, an incredible defensive effort and Arsenal have completely extinguished the PSG fire. Havertz has been outstanding when required to hold the ball up, PSG have dominated possession but have rarely if at all troubled the goalkeeper. Gabriel has been immense with several outstanding challenges. Lewis-Skelly has been tremendous in midfield, and one break away he surged through the midfield to trouble PSG. The next 10 minutes are huge, we need to threaten PSG more and surely a second goal will be required. ARSENAL HAVE NOT SCORED MORE THAN 1 GOAL IN A EUROPEAN FINAL SINCE THE SECOND LEG OF THE 1970 FAIRS CUP AT HIGHBURY, that is 6 full games in finals.

So far, so very good. But this will surely be impossible to keep up for 90 minutes. In Paris we didn't get the second goal and regretted it when Barcelona scored twice in the last 12 minutes.

5 mins KAI HAVERTZ HAMMERS ARSENAL INTO THE LEAD!! The German runs clear and hammers in the goal high above the PSG keeper from the angle. Arsenal lead the UEFA Champions League Final.!!!

1641 BST North London Forever booms out at the Puskas Arena, we are inside 20 minutes until kick-off, just look at those scenes, the Arsenal end is jumping and the Pepsi Kick-off Show is coming shortly. I will be back with goal updates and half-time comments. Enjoy the game wherever you are. Come on You Gunners!

1640 BST Check out my full preview to the UEFA Champions League Final here

1635 BST 25 minutes to go, ooft it is sweaty in here!

1630 BST THE AFTV WATCH ALONG IS NOW LIVE!

1624 BST The atmosphere in the Arsenal end at the Puskas Arena

1622 BST Arsenal players emerge from the tunnel and are greeted by a huge roar from the 17,000 Arsenal fans, and a huge boo from the PSG fans

1620 BST The teams are set to head out to warm up for the game, this is a critical period, please do not get anyone injured now!

1617 BST We are less than 45 minutes away from kick-off, goodness me.

1615 BST How are we feeling everyone? Goodness me the nerves are kicking in now.

1600 BST Gilberto, Jens Lehmann join Martin Keown on the TNT Sports coverage, we are now ONE HOUR UNTIL KICK-OFF

1552 BST Mikel Arteta goes with Kai Havertz in place of Viktor Gyokeres, Christhian Mosquera in place of Jurrien Timber, Piero Hincapie in place of Riccardo Califiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly in place of Martin Zubimendi - Mikel Merino is on the bench. BIG CALL FROM MIKEL, no doubt a defensive approach, stay in the game until the last 20 minutes and bring on Merino, Eze and Gyokeres.

1550 BST BREAKING NEWS THE ARSENAL TEAM ANNOUNCED

1547 BST This Arsenal team has won in the Bernabeu and the San Siro, this Arsenal team has beaten PSG, Inter, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. This Arsenal team is unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League this season. ONE MORE STEP TO MAKE HISTORY.

1542 BST Arsene Wenger is at the Puskas Arena, and Thierry Henry will carry the trophy onto the pitch before Kick-off, Ian Wright is also there. Three icons of the club supporting the current stars in their bid to become icons.

1540 BST Arsenal players on the pitch for the first time today ahead of the warm ups. A very good crowd inside the stadium already

1535 BST The UEFA Champions League Final is Live on BBC Radio 5 Live now, and BBC One have highlights of the match at 10.20pm this evening, with the BBC website having clips and highlights shortly after the game concludes at 7pm

1530 BST PSG ARRIVE AT THE PUSKAS ARENA, POTENTIALLY 3 HOURS AWAY FROM BECOMING BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE

1523 BST ARSENAL ARRIVE AT THE PUSKAS ARENA, 90 MINUTES UNTIL THE PEPSI KICK-OFF SHOW

1519 BST The usual waffle about PSG (Like Manchester City) having done it before, they have the experience blah, blah, blah. If that mattered so much we wouldn't bother playing the game. I remember the 1995 UEFA Champions League Final between AC Milan and Ajax. Milan had won it all, they were defending champions having destroyed Barcelona 4-0 in the 1994 Final. Ajax won 1-0 against the giants from the San Siro. If we applied the logic of modern media buffoons to that game Ajax would not have stood a chance.

Good to see Jack Wilshere join Martin Keown, because not only do Arsenal have to play PSG tonight we are up against the rest of the English media, full of Liverpool and Manchester United legends.

1450 BST The stage is set, I will be back for when TNT Sports resume their coverage at 3pm

1435 BST Arsenal, with a win tonight, can make it an English sweep of ALL THREE MAJOR EUROPEAN CLUB TROPHIES THIS SEASON following Aston Villa winning the Europa League, and Crystal Palace winning the Conference League.

In years when Three European Club competitions have been contested there has only been one season ever a single country has swept the board - 1989/90 when Serie A Giants Milan, Sampdoria and Juventus won the European Cup, Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Cup respectively.

Back then, at that time, Serie A was indisputably the greatest league in world football, and this domination of European club competitions signalled that clearly. If Arsenal win then the Premier League domination would be crystalised 36 years on.

1425 BST The atmosphere is building in Budapest!

1420 BST Emmanuel Eboue played in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final for Arsenal v Barcelona.

1410 BST This is the lineup I would select for today's match

I believe Zubimendi played at right back against Crystal Palace for a reason, and I think it would be a huge risk to play Timber, given he hasn't played for several weeks. This can give us up to five players in midfield to affect the transition and stop the PSG counter-attack. Gyokeres was bought for days like this, and our bench is frightening in terms of talent should we need it.

1350 BST Here is the Predicted Arsenal XI for the final from AFTV

1338 BST AFTV are in Budapest for the UEFA Champions League Final, and I have to praise them for their content so far this week, here is Robbie Lyle speaking to two Hungarian Arsenal fans ahead of the game earlier today

1330 BST Good afternoon Gooners everywhere, this is it, UEFA Champions League Final Day and the biggest match in Arsenal's history. The chance to become just the sixth British club to be Champions and European Cup winners in the same season after Celtic (1967), Liverpool (1977, 1984), Manchester United (1999, 2008) and Manchester City (2023). We are just three and a half hours away from kick-off at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, and the build-up to his game of games is nearly at an end.

I must give credit where it is due, and TNT Sports' build-up to the final has so far been excellent, with their 2-hour Super Weekend show from 10.30am-12.30pm featuring Jack Wilshere, Dara O'Brian, Piers Morgan, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Matt Smith, Joe Cole, Steve McManaman, Martin Keown, and Alex Brooker, with the show hosted by the excellent Reshmin Chowdhury, The setting in the Skybar in Budapest reminded me of their incredible coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and WBD House.

It's a shame it only last 2 hours really.

Meanwhile over on BBC One they have Scotland's World Cup preparation match against Curacao at Hampden, a nice little entrée to a gargantuan day of football. It has been an open and competitive game so far, but the visitors are embarrassing Scotland so far, taking the lead after Tahith Chong slotted past Craig Gordon in the 17th minute.

Elsewhere we have remarkable breaking news from Anfield with Liverpool announcing they have sacked Arne Slot. It was a disappointing season for the now deposed Champions, but they still qualified for the Champions League, and the team was in massive transition, with several key injuries throughout the season. An appalling decision in my opinion, and very unlike Liverpool to make such a rash decision.