Breaking down PSG’s penalty win over Arsenal: Stutters, sportsmanship and ice packs

After a Champions League final of contrasting styles in which neither team exerted their dominance, a penalty shootout was a predictably inevitable way to decide the winner.

Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain had just played out a tense 120 minutes of football, with both teams scoring once. It was time for spot kicks.

But who starred in the shootout? Who performed an honourable sporting gesture? And who didn’t really do their job but ended up on the winning side?

These are all the details from Paris Saint-Germain’s dramatic 4-3 victory on penalties — and Arsenal’s heartache.

After an intolerably anxious end to extra time, the tension was about to reach unbearable levels with a penalty shootout to decide the winner.

Neither team exactly skipped off to the touchline with a spring in their step — the exhausted players trudged off the field with heavy legs and heavier minds. Achraf Hakimi stretched cramp out of his leg and was helped to his feet by Declan Rice. Noni Madueke sat on the turf breathing heavily for a number of seconds and would be the last Arsenal player to join the rest of the group, while Piero Hincapie sank to his knees and prayed.

One man was in a rush, though — PSG keeper Matvey Safonov jogged straight to the bench and sat next to one of their staff, who began showing him directions for Arsenal penalty-takers on an iPad. The plan was to write this information down on a piece of paper for Safonov to take with him, but the pen didn’t work, leading to some furious scribbling on the paper to get the ink to run, while the Russian looked on with slight bemusement.

There will have been confidence in the PSG camp. Safanov last year saved four penalties in a row in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final victory against Flamengo, despite fracturing his left hand.

PSG had also won all five of their penalty shoot-outs under Luis Enrique, including three this season.

Matvey Safonov being talked through Arsenal’s penalties (TNT Sports)

Meanwhile, Arsenal back-up ‘keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga headed straight onto the pitch to speak to David Raya and guide him back to the dugout with his arm around the Spaniard’s shoulder.

Raya’s legs were then each massaged by two different members of staff while he too received penalty instructions, intently studying a piece of paper as a supportive Kepa hovered over them.

As the Arsenal outfield players huddled together, Rice cooled himself down with a huge ice pack which straddled over his back and his chest, like he was wearing a sandwich board of ice. Mikel Arteta called the players in tighter, counting on his fingers as he gave a series of pointed messages. As the group dispersed, Arteta was looking at Noni Madueke (who wasn’t down to take one of the first five penalties) and tapped his hand on his cheek.

Declan Rice with his ice (TNT Sports)

Arteta then turned to Viktor Gyokeres — Arsenal’s first penalty taker — clasping both hands around the back of his neck and pulling him in to kiss him on the cheek, before hugging Gabriel Martinelli and Eberechi Eze, who would take Arsenal’s fourth and second penalties respectively.

Luis Enrique was more animated in the PSG huddle, cajoling the players, some of whom clapped and roared as the huddle dispersed. Nuno Mendes, who will be the only PSG player not to convert his spot kick, received treatment to his upper right thigh.

German referee Daniel Siebert gathered the two captains, Rice and Hakimi, together, with the pair warmly embracing with a handshake and an arm around each other’s back.

The first coin toss was to choose which end the penalties would be taken at — and when the coin landed on whichever end Siebert had dictated would be the PSG end, Hakimi turned to his fans, fist raised, generating a huge roar from the French contingent as Rice placed his hands on his hips.

Rice then called incorrectly on a heads or tails toss for who got to choose whether to take first or second. Hakimi had no hesitation in shooting first, no surprise given studies have shown teams shooting first in shoot-outs tend to win around 60 per cent of them.

The captains react to the toss (TNT Sports)

In the stands, fans either prayed, held their head in their hands, or generally just carried a terrified expression on their faces.

Up first for PSG was Goncalo Ramos, who started his walk to the spot some 160 seconds before he would actually take his kick.

The delay included an Arsenal team huddle, the referee giving a lecture to both goalkeepers, Raya grabbing the ball and rather manically bouncing it incredibly hard against the turf and then some gamesmanship from Raya, who stood directly in front of Ramos with the ball on the spot and then later questioned whether it had been correctly placed.

William Saliba was crouched down praying as everyone waited for the kick, which Ramos, after taking a deep breath, dispatched into the top right corner, with Raya going the wrong way.

David Raya bouncing the ball (TNT Sports)

It was a penalty that set the tone for PSG’s victory, with composure under extreme pressure. Ramos headed to the PSG fans, yelling and beating his chest.

Gyokeres was first up for Arsenal. As Safonov pointed to his right — the side Gyokeres usually favours — the Swede went the opposite way to make it 1-1. Gabriel let out a huge roar as he broke from the Arsenal huddle.

Gyokeres keeps his head to go the other way (Photo: Odd ANDERSEN / AFP via Getty Images)

Desire Doue was next for PSG and placed the ball down, then lifted it up to caress it ahead of his forehead, before, from his straight run up and then a shuffle to the left, sending Raya the wrong way. It was the third penalty out of three that the keepers had guessed incorrectly.

“It’s a part of my job. You have to stay calm,” Doue later said to TNT Sports.

Eberechi Eze was next and looked understandably nervous as his eyes darted around the scene ahead of him, looking up at the big screen to his left.

Eberechi Eze looks up on the way to the spot (TNT Sports)

Eze placed the ball, walked directly backwards, watched the keeper as he ran up, with a shuffled run-up, then a stop and stutter… and then he placed it comfortably wide of Safonov’s right-hand post.

The goalkeeper stayed in the middle of the goal while Eze ruefully smiled as he headed back to the halfway line amid scenes of anguish in the Arsenal end.

“I just don’t get it,” Steven Gerrard says of Eze’s stuttered run-up. “Penalties are hard enough; the pressure, the stage, the magnitude, the size of the game. Why all the nonsense? Put your foot through it, back your technique.”

Nuno Mendes can compound Arsenal’s misery by making it 3-1, but from a short run-up, his effort is brilliantly saved by Raya, who beats the ball away to his left with both hands. It’s a good height but an excellent save, and Mendes shakes his head in disbelief.

Raya saves superbly (Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Raya’s celebration is muted with no expression or emotion, but Kepa goes wild on the touchline.

Captain Rice then levelled things up at 2-2, wrong-footing Safonov, who has yet to get near an Arsenal spot kick, with a confident penalty low to the goalkeeper’s left. He then let out a huge roar towards the Arsenal fans and pointed at his forehead as he was greeted by Jurrien Timber back at the halfway line.

Hakimi was next up with PSG’s fourth penalty. Raya dived early to his left, and Hakimi coolly placed it in the opposite corner. There were more prayers being said in the stands amid unbearable tension.

Rice attempts to rally Arsenal during the shootout (Photo: Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Martinelli looked pensive as he stepped up next for Arsenal, taking two steps to his left before again sending the ‘keeper the wrong way and celebrating with a huge explosion of emotion and relief. “Best pen so far,” Gerrard said of Martinelli’s high effort into the corner, and Martin Odegaard hoisted both fists into the air.

Lucas Beraldo took PSG’s crucial fifth penalty. The Brazilian centre-back/midfielder had only played 23 minutes in the competition this season before coming on for Vitinha at half-time in extra time. He had only taken a couple of his penalties in his career during shoot-outs for Sao Paulo in Brazil.

His penalty, with Raya again diving early (this time to his right), was into the side netting of the opposite corner and probably PSG’s best penalty so far.

David Raya diving early for PSG’s fifth penalty (TNT Sports)

As Gabriel made the long walk from the halfway line, he looked down at the floor and then up to the stand behind the goal. Behind him, Rice called for his team-mates to link arms again.

Gabriel was ready, but the referee asked him to re-spot the ball, so he rolled it back a touch. In the stand, Arsene Wenger watched on nervously while, to his right, Luis Figo was for some reason grinning from ear to ear, in conversation with someone to his right.

The Brazilian defender stared intently at the ball as he took a couple of purposeful strides directly backwards, glaring at the keeper and taking a deep breath. He circled around to the right, stuttered with his run-up… and blasted his left-footed penalty over the bar. It was victory for PSG.

Gabriel lifted his shirt over his head, while an expressionless Safonov bullishly walked away from his goal and waited to be engulfed by dozens of PSG staff and players as red flares were lit en masse behind the goal.

A distraught Eze placed both hands on his head, while in a stunning show of sportsmanship, PSG defender Marquinhos immediately headed for his compatriot Gabriel, putting both his arms around his international team-mate and offering words of encouragement in his ear.

Marquinhos consoles Gabriel (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

It was reminiscent of the 1990 World Cup semi-final between England and West Germany, when Lothar Matthaus went to console Chris Waddle (who had missed the crucial kick for England) instead of celebrating with his team-mates.

“I feel incredibly sorry for Gabriel, I thought he was the outstanding player on the pitch today,” Peter Schmeichel said on CBS Sports.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry added: “I was surprised (to see Gabriel step up) to be honest, but for me if you have the courage to go there and take it, you are someone who has the audacity and the gumption.”

0 – Gabriel Magalhães is the first-ever player to miss a match-deciding penalty in the UEFA Champions League or European Cup final by shooting the ball next to or over the goal. Heartbreak. pic.twitter.com/wZPJ8bTyTB

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) May 30, 2026

Doue was in tears with his head on the turf, while a number of Arsenal players went to console Gabriel, including Mikel Merino, Bukayo Saka and Odegaard.

Arteta held Eze in his arms, the pair not saying a word.

Arteta consoles Eze (Photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)

It was a cruel end for Arsenal, but for PSG, they became just the second team this century to win the Champions League in back-to-back seasons. They did it by the tightest of margins.