Paris Saint-Germain did it. At the end of a breathtaking final against Arsenal at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, the capital club retained their European crown by winning on penalties (1-1, 4-3 tab). However, everything started badly for Luis Enrique’s men with Kai Havertz’s quick opening score in the 6th minute. Faced with a perfectly organized, disciplined London team ready to suffer without the ball, the Parisians have long stumbled upon a red wall. Despite an overwhelming domination of possession, PSG struggled to create danger and even saw Arsenal control the pace of the match thanks to its defensive block and its experience of major meetings.
But as is often the case this season on the European scene, Paris ended up finding the fault. After a frustrating first period, the European champions gradually accelerated after returning from the locker room. More aggressive in the duels, more technically precise and above all more inspired in the last thirty meters, the Ile-de-France residents ended up being rewarded thanks to a penalty caused by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and converted by Ousmane Dembélé on the hour mark. Behind, the match opened up completely. Kvaratskhelia hit the post, Barcola missed two huge chances, while Raya made numerous decisive saves. Neither the 90 minutes nor the extra time made it possible to decide between the two teams before a penalty shootout finally won by Paris after Gabriel’s miss.
A historic season for Kvara
And in the middle of this tactical and mental battle, one man once again changed the destiny of Paris, and as usual, it was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who attracted the spotlight. Long muzzled by the English defensive density, the Georgian never stopped provoking, fixating and looking for the fault. Not very successful in his dribbling during a good part of the match, the former Neapolitan nevertheless remained the main Parisian offensive threat. It was he who caused the equalizing penalty after his one-two with Dembélé, before making all of Arsenal tremble with this solitary breakthrough concluded by a strike on the post in the 77th minute. Even in a less flamboyant evening statistically, Kvaratskhelia still weighed in on each key moment of the match and was above all the only one to try to get ahead of the London defensive curtain. A habit in this European campaign where he will have stacked up very high level performances against Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and now Arsenal. And if Georgia played in the 2026 World Cup, the Ballon d’Or debate would likely be even hotter.
Because the Khvicha Kvaratskhelia season is simply monumental. Champion of France, winner of the Champions Trophy and now double European champion, the Parisian winger completed the exercise with 32 decisive contributions in all competitions. Above all, he wrote his legend during this final phase of the Champions League: a goal in the sixteenth, a hat-trick in the eighth, a goal and an assist in the quarter, two goals and an assist in the semi-final, before causing the penalty which revived PSG in the final. With three man of the match trophies in the knockout phase and above all a historic record of seven consecutive matches in the Champions League final phase with at least one goal or an assist, Kvaratskhelia has established himself as one of the faces of this 2025-2026 edition. “The emotions I can’t describe… We deserved to win“, he declared at the final whistle. Budapest was not his most spectacular evening. But she was undoubtedly the one who definitively established him among the greatest.
