Arsenal’s season came down to a set piece and Gabriel Magalhães, but not in the way anyone would have hoped. They lost the Champions League final on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain after three hours of unresolved contest in the Puskas Arena. However, it was a brilliant, high-grade, dizzyingly tense game of football.
A Night of High Intensity
The atmosphere was intense. After half an hour, it felt like the game had always been happening, the Puskas Arena the only universe, filled with noise and constantly shifting patterns. Even as the game edged into penalties close to 9pm, the night felt like a series of vivid moments.
David Raya was being triple-maintained by the Arsenal pit crew, pounded on both thighs, his brain fed with data, his mouth flooded with fluids. In the stands, an Arsenal fan leaped up all night, arms beating the air, lost in the moment. Mikel Arteta, in his dark grey slacks and silky polo shirt, was poised on his chalk line like a trim darts player.
Arteta was deeply involved, crouching, clenching, and barking every word in his sixth dance-battle rondo-huddle of the night. He loves to talk about suffering. Throughout the three hours, Arsenal’s manager must have done 20,000 star jumps and 650 shuttle sprints, never letting his intensity drop.
PSG Retains Title After Hard-Fought Victory
PSG retained their title, completing the much-trumpeted two-peat, proving themselves a deserving champion team. Arsenal made sure anyone who wanted to win had to be good enough to beat them, insisting that every moment of grace was gouged out of something hard and real.
Arsenal’s Performance and the Nature of Football
The match was a reminder that some things are long, difficult and nuanced. The world’s most popular form of entertainment can still be a saga, grudging in its rewards, despite talk of instant content and reel culture.
For Arsenal’s supporters, there will be genuine pleasure in the performance of a young team with five English players in it. There will also be pride in Arteta successfully asserting his tactical plan at this rarefied level.