For the first time since 2006, Arsenal will compete in the Champions League final in the 2025-26 season, with a 20-year gap between the longest period between two finals for any English club. A memorable 1-0 second-leg win, 2-1 on aggregate, over Atletico Madrid at the Emirates in the semifinal sends them to the showpiece to be held at Budapest in a journey where they showed grit, efficiency, broke several records and are now just a win away from crafting arguably their most significant achievement in the club’s history. Mikel Arteta will lead Arsenal to the Champions League in less than 7 years since taking charge in December 2019, much sooner than Arsene Wenger, who required a decade to do so.
The Spaniard has the chance to end all the woes of being the near side and get over the line this time with a double up for grabs to finally crown his era at the club. Their opponents and holders, Paris Saint-Germain, will offer the toughest battle so far as they look to retain their honour and have eliminated the Gunners from the semifinal stage last time. However, having got past the last four this time and winning the Premier League in their own hands, Arsenal will feel they have it in themselves to clinch the only silverware missing from the cabinet.
Here is the journey of Arsenal reaching the Champions League 2025-26 final:
Perfect League Phase Campaign
Arsenal became the first team to win all their games in the League Phase since the format was introduced last season, and the 14th team in the competition’s history to win every game in the opening round. Among the pack, only Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have gone on to lift the trophy, which the Gunners will be desperate to emulate to land their first European crown. Mikel Arteta’s side showed incredible dominance in the eight games, with five of the nine clean sheets they managed this season coming at this stage, including shutouts in the first four games.
The side cruised past Athletic Bilbao and Olympiacos before demolishing Atletico Madrid, while also inflicting the first defeat on Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich and silencing Serie A winners Inter in San Siro. It is not just their rock-solid defence, which leaked just four goals at this stage, but also their sprawling attack that helped them clinch the top spot with ease. The North London team scored an impressive total of 23 goals, averaging 2.8 per game during the League Phase, without depending on a single source for their strikes.
Comeback against Bayer Leverkusen
However, Arsenal had to grind out their victories in the knockout stages, relying more and more on pragmatism and defensive solidity, with a decline in the potency of their attack. Teams also read their formula and sat back to frustrate them. In the Round of 16, Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen created significant challenges for Arteta’s side in the first leg in Germany, as the visitors struggled to break them down. Furthermore, the Gunners trailed for the first time in the competition when the host took the lead from a corner right at the start of the second half. At that moment, it seemed like Arsenal were handed a reality check of the competition they are playing in.
Yet, Arteta's side stuck to their guns and piled up the pressure by upping the intensity, which ultimately rewarded them, a late penalty won by Noni Madueke. Stepped up by Kai Havertz, who dispatched it accurately against his former side to avoid taking a deficit back home. It won’t be the last of him to deliver such magic for the Premier League giants on the continental stage. Arsenal were not to be denied at Emirates as they regained their composure and claimed a 2-0 victory with Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice scoring in each half to send their team to the quarterfinal stage.
Grinding Sporting CP challenge
The side faced another difficult trip in the first leg of the last-eight in the Champions League after travelling to Lisbon to face Sporting CP. The Portuguese giant has produced one of the most sensational stories in the campaign, even beating holders PSG and ending the fairytale run of Bodo Glimt with a huge comeback in the previous round. They also played this tie with the intent of upsetting another giant at home, with David Raya forced to pull off some vital saves, but the visitors were once again rescued by their German forward. When Arsenal seemed to have been frustrated by the hosts, Havertz made sure they took an advantage back at home with another stoppage-time goal.
Sporting, though, did not lose motivation and gave another strong presence of themselves in the second leg at the Emirates. Their surge put the North Londoners under extreme pressure, with Raya’s error and Geny Catamo’s strike bouncing off the post, almost cancelling their deficit. Arsenal also got the chance to settle the tie once and for all, but Leandro Trossard could only head against the crossbar and survived a stoppage-time scare when Joao Simoesas’s strike whistled past the post. Their unreal solidity and a bit of fortune on this occasion helped the side progress again, with their manager reaching a memorable feat in doing so.
Semifinal delight against Atletico
For the first time in Arsenal's 140-year history, Mikel Arteta became the first manager to have taken the team to the Champions League semi-finals in two consecutive years, once again demonstrating their incredible rise under the Spaniard, with just a step away from reaching the final. However, their semifinal opponents were none other than Atletico Madrid, guided by their legendary manager Diego Simeone, who are chasing glory to add to their legacy in the competition, having also beaten a side like Barcelona in the quarterfinals. Despite losing heavily in the League Phase encounter, Los Colcheronos were determined to make it harder for the Gunners and they felt it in the first leg at Metropolitano.
But the conversation post-game became more about the controversial refereeing decisions with three penalties awarded rather than performance on the pitch. Arsenal thought they had benefited when Viktor Gyokores was fouled inside the box by David Hancko and then converted the spot-kick on the edge of half-time, but were stung in the same way when Ben White was penalised for a handball leading to Julian Alvarez’s successful penalty equaliser after the restart. It was only the sixth goal they conceded in the competition this season, the lowest for any finalists. That frustrated the Gunners, but they were infuriated again when the referee overturned his on-field penalty call after Eze seemed to have tripped by the earlier culprit Hancko in the box following a VAR review, which could have led to the winner.
Regardless, the 1-1 draw benefited Arteta’s side as they had the home advantage in the second leg once again and the opportunity to stamp their mark as the deserved winners of the tie. The atmosphere and the occasion helped them in reaching the dreamland, with captain fantastic, Bukayo Saka, clinching the all-important strike on the stroke of half-time. Arsenal held on in the second half with their immense defensive effort to register their ninth clean sheet in the Champions League this season, becoming the first team in competition history to remain unbeaten for 14 consecutive matches in a single season and reach just the second final in history.
