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Around half a million Arsenal fans are expected to watch their team’s open-bus top victory parade through north London this afternoon, celebrating the men’s side’s first Premier League win for 22 years, and the women’s team taking the first-ever Champions Cup.

Thousands of people began arriving along the 5.6-mile parade route in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mikel Arteta’s squad began their parade at 2pm with a huge police operation deployed amid reports that a million people would descend on the wider area.

It is a bittersweet celebration, with Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães saying their Champions League penalty shoot-out defeat on Saturday night was “painful”.

But Arsenal put their European heartbreak behind them to embark on a parade through the streets of north London to celebrate their Premier League title success.

The women’s side beat the Brazilian Corinthians team 3-2 in February, with goals from Olivia Smith, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Caitlin Foord.

Speaking after the game, captain Kim Little said the team showed “incredible” character, and would “take a lot” from winning the first Champions Cup.

“It’s great to get the win,” she said. “We showed incredible character and resilience to lose the goal right at the end and come back in extra time. The girls did great.

“It’s obviously a unique experience, it being the first Champions Cup. We’ll take a lot from winning today and getting a trophy.”

In the men’s Champions League final on Saturday, Gabriel missed the crucial spot-kick against Paris Saint-Germain as the French champions retained their crown following a 1-1 draw in Budapest.

“It’s painful, but I’m proud of this team and everything we achieved together this season,” Gabriel wrote on Instagram.

“Thank you to our incredible fans for your support every step of the way. You deserve to celebrate this journey with us and enjoy the parade today!

“See you next season!”

Arsenal had been hoping for a double celebration by following up their league success with a first Champions League trophy in the club’s 140-year history.

Kai Havertz fired them into an early lead in the Hungarian capital, but PSG equalised through Ousmane Dembele’s penalty, and Eberechi Eze and Gabriel both missed in the shoot-out.

Arteta’s crestfallen players departed their hotel a few hours after the crushing loss, with the Arsenal manager vowing to use the setback as “fuel” to carry them to glory next season.

Arteta said: “First of all, you have to go through that pain, digest it and turn it into fuel to improve and to reach a different level.

“I will take a few days with my family and then I will start the process to review what we’ve done.

“We will start to make some very important decisions if we want to reach another level.

“And we’re going to have to show that ambition because we are more than capable of doing it. But it’s going to demand us to be very, very ambitious, very fast and very smart.”

More than 500 Met Police officers have been deployed to cover the event, alongside specialist search and drone teams, and the force said there will be no trophy lift along the route as the buses will move continuously.

This comes after French police detained 480 people in Paris and 300 more in 15 other French cities following riots that broke out after Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters that 57 police officers had been wounded, most with minor injuries, after fans set off fires and vandalised shops. A small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.

Following the men’s team’s win last week, The i Paper’s chief football writer, Daniel Storey, said fans should “bask in the realisation that a superpower has been toppled,” with Arsenal rising where Manchester City had wilted.

“This has not been a vintage Premier League season, in terms of quality or entertainment,” he wrote. “But why would Arsenal give a damn about that? They built a squad that they believed could be controlled and consistent and they were proven spectacularly right. They became a mirror of the league itself and that’s why they won.”

At the final whistle in Man City’s match against Bournemouth, which meant the Gunners had taken the title, the Arsenal squad celebrated at their training ground by dancing and chanting: “Campeones, Campeones, Ole Ole Ole!” Captain Declan Rice posted on Instagram: “It’s done.”

With agencies

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BUDAPEST – How inexplicably cruel that it should have been Gabriel.

The centre-back took the decisive penalty of his own volition. He straightened, opened his body up and skied it. It will be remembered as the moment that cost Arsenal a first Champions League trophy, from a defender without whom they would never have been in contention for one in the first place.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta pointed to fine margins. The Cristian Mosquera foul on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that was given. The Nuno Mendes collision with Noni Madueke that was not.

The first thing to say is that Arteta’s hands were tied. He could have left a half-fit Jurrien Timber to try and contain a largely below-par Kvaratskhelia. He could have started Riccardo Calafiori at the expense of Piero Hincapie, who turned out to be Arsenal’s best player and the reason the thrashing many expected never materialised.

Arsenal have to seize the opportunity

Paris Saint-Germain are ruthless – inevitable, even. But so was Arteta’s approach. If Pep Guardiola is inclined to overthink, his old protege can be guilty of underplaying Arsenal’s hand. There is no point rewriting history now – had it been beaten semi-finalists Bayern Munich in their place, Arsenal would still not have been favourites and would probably have lined up the same way. Quite possibly with the same result. Arsenal will never know because they are still too inclined to batten down the hatches for fear of letting these moments slip away.

Arteta’s biggest challenge this summer is ensuring his side are never here again. The English champions should not be going into a showpiece like this intent on sitting in for 84 minutes after the early goal. Too often Gareth Southgate did the same with the national team, ultimately costing him silverware and immortality.

It is Arsenal’s great strength – they conceded the fewest goals in this Champions League season – but they are capable of more than nabbing 24 per cent of the ball. PSG were kept at bay for the first half but from the bench Enrique could turn to Bradley Barcola, Goncalo Ramos and Warren Zaire-Emery. Arsenal’s replacements were not game-changers. Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze and Madueke all contributed but none were introduced to seize the final throes of extra time.

Had Arteta been bolder, Eze would have started over Leandro Trossard, a double-threat playing through the lines with Martin Odegaard.

Instead, Arsenal were in the position they were, unfancied underdogs against the best team in Europe, because they are content to be that way. The squad is perfectly balanced for where they want to be domestically. That Arteta had a choice between Gyokeres, his standout player in this season’s Champions League, and Kai Havertz, who for the first hour looked to have scored the decisive goal, is testament to how Arsenal have improved their depth.

If you had to pinpoint one reason why they are Premier League champions when they have fallen short so many times before, that is it. But it is also a meticulously crafted squad built specifically for containment, not Champions League glory.

What next?

Defeat in Budapest brings “pain”, Arteta said. Therein also lies opportunity. This summer will be telling as to whether Arsenal are proactive in the market, following up on interest in Julian Alvarez, Nico Williams, Morgan Rogers. Eli Junior Kroupi is another being monitored.

There is another clear distinction that sets PSG apart. They were also without two of their favoured penalty-takers by the time spot-kicks were underway but they are a group built to play on the front foot.

Read more

• Kat Lucas: Arsenal suffer shootout heartbreak after penalty controversy
• Kat Lucas: The Champions League final’s £2bn corruption scandal

Arteta confirmed that ordinarily, Bukayo Saka, Odegaard and Havertz would have been among his top five. All had been taken off by the end of extra time.

There is no use making sweeping generalisations about an inferiority complex in English football, when aside from the sample size here the Premier League is markedly stronger than Ligue 1.

An inferiority complex at Arsenal though? Quite possibly – and that is the one thing money can’t address this summer without a change in approach.

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Arsenal 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain (Havertz 6’ | Dembele pen 65’) – PSG win 4-3 on penalties

BUDAPEST – Heroes, but not history-makers. Not this time. Only heartbreak after Gabriel’s decisive miss in an agonising shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. They came as one red army knowing that whatever happened, they would be plated in the silverware and surreal euphoria of the last fortnight. Highbury will still run red tomorrow; Hungary was one world too far for Arsenal to conquer.

After a delirious 11 days, this was only ever meant to be the bonus. It took more than an hour for the desperation which had once proven the downfall of the English champions to sink in. The moment that changed everything, Cristhian Mosquera’s tangle of limbs with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia before Ousmane Dembele’s penalty, felt avoidable but fatalistic.

The moment that might have changed even more, Noni Madueke’s own spot-kick appeal, always felt a stretch even as a red-faced Declan Rice screamed himself blue.

A closer look at that Noni Madueke penalty shout

Jack Wilshere and Martin Keown give their verdict…

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 30, 2026

With the rush of every Gabriel clearance and Myles Lewis-Skelly interception, for those precious moments they had dreamt of Arteta-balling their way to glory. Perhaps there is an alternate version of history where they took Kai Havertz’s early strike and turned the screw. For so long they invited pressure from the most fluid team in Europe, led by the world’s best knockout coach, and for so long, it felt a plausible strategy. The massacre so many predicted never materialised – and for that, Arsenal deserve enormous credit.

There had even been the dose of good fortune which has so often evaded them when it matters. Inside six minutes, Marquinhos’ clearance had bounced awkwardly off Leandro Trossard, enough to dupe Pacho into leaving Havertz free to gallop at Matvey Safonov’s goal. Safonov, who only usurped Lucas Chevalier as PSG No 1 at the turn of the year, made no attempt to close him down and watched the ball lash into the roof of his net.

Enrique must have war-gamed what Arsenal would do if they took an early lead. It is easy to say now that all this was inevitable, but for almost 60 minutes Arsenal could not have imagined it working as well as it did. With Nuno Mendes cutting inside, the three prongs of Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and Desire Doue pressed and pressed. And just as the Parisians had been on the banks of the Danube and in the parks of Varosliget, they were swallowed in a sea of red.

In their thousands, the reigning champions had kicked off with a giant tifo featuring two muscular biceps clasped around the Champions League trophy. They will hold onto it even tighter now, and Arteta will remain in the shadows of his old friend and mentor Enrique.

Heartbreaking for Arsenal and Gabriel

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 30, 2026

His two biggest decisions always felt like they would prove a masterstroke or a misjudgement – instead they fell somewhere in between. First, in reining in his most cavalier urges and choosing the more conservative options: Piero Hincapie ahead of Riccardo Calafiori, Mosquera over Jurrian Timber. Arteta spent as much time directing Bukayo Saka to ensure he was helping to cover the latter as he did urging him on. Mosquera had played his part until finally being undone by the 1-2 – he was lucky to avoid a second yellow before being taken off.

Crucially, though, Arteta had also recognised Havertz as the man for the big moments, when it has so often been Viktor Gyokeres in this competition all season. That one certainly paid off.

By the time penalties rolled around, a hazy evening sun had descended, drying out the rain that had begun to trickle around noon. It only added to the frenzy in a rejoicing PSG section full of billowing smoke, ablaze with pyros and requiring its own line of guards by the end. At the other of the Puskas, the ground named after Hungary’s great visionary of the 1950s, Arsenal’s supporters serenaded a group of players who have already spun their own legends. Eberechi Eze and Gabriel, who picked the two unlucky straws in the shootout, among them.

It was that sinking feeling they thought was behind them. Runners-up. Second. And yet it was precisely that familiar feeling of Arsenal’s ever bridesmaids which spurred them on to a first title in 22 years. Arteta will have them believing that they will be back.

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If Liverpool had serious doubts, Arne Slot had to go now. Different people in the same roles here have made that mistake before, backing Brendan Rodgers in 2015 only to see things fall apart even more. A new manager deserves a preseason and this summer is going to be busy. What point backing a guy you aren’t sure you want?

More pertinently, Slot had seemingly become a manager many Liverpool players didn’t want either. The defining moment of his season wasn’t the team and Slot being booed, or any milepost during the lamentable title defence, but Mo Salah’s parting shot.

The talk of “heavy metal” football was a call-to-arms not about the results – although they were indeed poor – but the style, a clear nod to Slot’s predecessor and a demand for significant change. Implicitly it read like a message to Liverpool’s hierarchy and it was liked by Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson and Jeremie Frimpong.

Those doubts were entirely valid. Although there will be censure towards the players and their performance, Liverpool became more muddled as Slot’s tenure went on, not less. For most of this season, they fell into an aesthetically displeasing sludge: made individual mistakes in defence, pedestrian in possession, failing to create enough chances and missing many of the ones they did create.

Yes, Liverpool qualified for the Champions League. Some will say that should be enough to merit extended faith. But even that was rather by technicality than proven aptitude, with the extra place needed and the joint-lowest points total in Premier League history required.

That speaks to the other justification for this move: this is hardly a rushed judgement, although it may feel like it in the immediate aftermath. After Liverpool had won their first five league matches of the season, the serious concerns first appeared in September: 1-2 at Palace, 1-2 at Chelsea, 1-2 against Manchester United and 2-3 at Brentford.

The raw numbers never improved enough. From the fifth game of the season onwards, Slot’s team earned a point more than Fulham and six more than Nottingham Forest and Leeds. They earned fewer than Brentford and 17 fewer than Aston Villa. It is that last figure that is most damaging, given the spend last summer.

The away leg at Paris Saint-Germain felt like a desperate low. Slot picked an entirely new formation and failed to have a single shot on target as Liverpool were entirely outclassed in every area of the pitch, subsequently losing the home leg by the same scoreline. Suddenly they looked like Champions League also-rans, and they cannot afford that to become the norm again.

Were this likely to be a quiet summer at Anfield, Slot could potentially ride out the storm as the continuity candidate to fit the mood. That’s the opposite of their reality. The best attacker in the club’s modern history is leaving. A starting central defender is leaving.

This season has caused significant damage to remaining key players and almost all of last summer’s transfer business was unsuccessful. How can you allow the same guy to play an integral role in more revolution when supporters and players have seemingly made up their mind and you’re not fully convinced either?

This is a ruthless decision, eventually. Slot won a league title a year ago, toppling Pep Guardiola in his debut campaign through perceptive tactical control and relentless consistency. He suffered the desperately tragic loss of a senior player and has been unfortunate with injury issues suffered by the two forwards that arrived last summer. As the club posted on X: “Arne helped us deliver our 20th title and we’ll always be thankful”.

But there was far more evidence that Liverpool were in danger of drifting further than there was to suggest Slot was likely to reinvent himself and the mood this summer. The defending looked broken. The balance looked broken. Morale in the dressing room looked broken and the spirit of supporters was quickly breaking too.

A sacking need not be a damnation of an entire reputation, but Slot was given eight months to offer proof that he could build a successful squad as successfully as he inherited one. The only obvious development was his best attacker becoming mutinous and other players deciding that they needed to leave. That’s no case for keeping your job.

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BUDAPEST — In the run-up to the Champions League final you will hear a lot about how Luis Enrique transformed Paris Saint-Germain from a gaggle of Galacticos to the best team in Europe.

Mikel Arteta can make a similar claim. Perhaps not aesthetically, but the Arsenal squad he took over – Nicolas Pepe, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Matteo Guendouzi –are unrecognisable from the current group.

It does not put them anywhere close to favourites in Budapest- but it is unwise to write Arsenal off, even if Enrique has won 11 of the 12 finals he has contested. You could fairly rudimentarily divide their season into three parts: pre-Christmas, post-New Year and post-defeat to Manchester City on 19 April. Since then Arteta has locked into an approach that won them the Premier League – and which has him “fully convinced” they can push PSG all the way.

Arteta’s four headaches

Who partners Rice?

Arsenal cannot be entirely sure what form Enrique’s midfield will take. It could contain Lucas Beraldo, or he could be deployed at right-back or centre-back. If Martin Zubimendi were to partner Declan Rice, it would be harder to pinpoint where their own creativity was going to come from. Instead Arteta feels likelier to stick with Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has excelled since his first start as a midfielder in the 3-0 win over Fulham earlier this month.

How to stop Kvaratskhelia

Ben White is a loss but his replacement could be better-suited 1v1 against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who already has 10 goals and six assists in this season’s competition. The question is whether Jurrien Timber starts having been a doubt for the final. Arteta could opt for Cristhian Mosquera instead – but Timber is a risk worth taking if he is fit, despite not featuring since 14 March.

Gyokeres vs Havertz

In the biggest moments, Arteta has at times used Kai Havertz as the focal point of the front three, but there is an obvious argument for why Viktor Gyokeres could be best utilised against PSG. Gabriel Martinelli is the only Arsenal player with more goals in Europe this season and all of the Brazilian’s came in the league phase.

One of Arsenal’s most effective strategies against Atletico Madrid was to use David Raya to get the ball up quickly to Gyokeres, who ran 6.5 miles in the semi-final second leg. Marquinhos is also liable to follow the striker when he roams into the wide areas and drops into a deeper role, creating more space to be exploited by Martin Odegaard.

The left

At left-back there is the more adventurous option in Riccardo Calafiori over Piero Hincapie, combining with either Eberechi Eze or Leandro Trossard. Eze impressed sufficiently during Odegaard’s recent absence that Arteta chose to keep deploying them both, but Trossard is a more likely starter, with Eze on for the final half-hour. The five teams who beat PSG in Ligue 1 did so because for the most part, they were able to contain Ousmane Dembele – not easy to do with PSG’s notorious pressing.

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RED BULL ARENA – “We are the boys who will win your little game,” a Selhurst Park tifo read at the start of Crystal Palace’s Uefa Conference League journey.

They did, indeed, live up to the billing, beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in Wednesday’s final.

Despite feeling aggrieved after their demotion from the Europa League for failing to comply with multi-club ownership regulations, Palace embraced the competition from the start – after all, it was still a maiden European tour.

It did not work out too badly in the end; now they are European champions and have back-to-back seasons of continental football.

In retrospect, the exclusion has worked in their favour. Entering the Europa League in their first-ever European season may well have been a step too far – especially with the toll the Conference League has taken on the squad – but the third-tier competition has given them exquisite grounding and experience of European football, which will elevate their chances in the Europa League next season.

There was beautiful irony to Palace lifting a European honour at the home of RB Leipzig, a club genuinely engrossed in a multi-club model – unlike Palace. Despite winning the “little game”, there was no love lost for Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, whom supporters pelted with jeers during the trophy presentation.

Procuring a maiden continental honour has finally allowed the Eagles to take up their rightful place in the Europa League next season after Jean-Philippe Mateta struck into a gaping net.

It had to be Mateta, who lives every moment of a game, even after he was substituted in Leipzig – the Frenchman was bouncing up and down on the bench trying to coach his team over the line.

It was not long ago that Mateta was vilified by Palace fans when he tried to force a move to AC Milan in January. Palace can thank their lucky stars the move fell through, with Mateta, who may still depart in the summer, scoring the most crucial goal of their campaign.

Winning a European trophy is a remarkable achievement for Palace, and they should take time to bask in the glory. However, when attention turns to next season under new management – with Conference League success marking Oliver Glasner’s final game at the club – their triumph could prove a gamechanger.

Crystal Palace are the 2026 Conference League winners

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The dividends stretch beyond another trophy in the cabinet. The £21.5m prize for winning the competition will help boost the transfer kitty for the new manager, especially with financial regulations becoming even more stringent from next season. Another European campaign will also increase revenue streams, both commercially and through prize money.

Most importantly, the pull of the Europa League should not be underestimated. Another season in Europe will allow Palace to attract a higher calibre of players and coaches, with Thursday night football once again on offer at Selhurst Park.

Andoni Iraola is Palace’s dream candidate to replace Glasner, and their efforts to persuade him to join have been admirable. With Bournemouth securing Europa League football, a move to Palace may initially have appeared a side-step.

But Palace now offer European football of their own, alongside the prestige of having won a European trophy and two domestic honours. The prospect becomes even more attractive given Iraola’s interest in London.

No matter where Palace go from here, the kudos belongs to chairman Steve Parish and outgoing manager Glasner.

Glasner for masterminding the greatest spell in Palace history, always finding a way to win big games. The unity he has developed in the Palace squad means they enter every game as a collective with an unconquerable mindset.

Meanwhile, Parish, who has had a tense relationship with Glasner at times, could have sacked the Austrian when he publicly disrespected the club in January. However, he held his nerve as he knew Glasner gave Palace the best chance of winning the Conference League. He may look back on that decision in years to come as the pivotal moment that led Palace to the title.

There was a touching moment between the pair during the celebrations when they both lifted the trophy together in front of the Palace supporters. One last trophy to signal the end of their union and further cement their legacies as the greatest chairman and manager, respectively, in Palace’s history.

Read more

Bobby Manzi: The reasons behind Adam Wharton’s controversial World Cup snub

Bobby Manzi: ‘I felt depressed’: Crystal Palace’s immortals and the price of glory

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This summer will host the biggest international football tournament in the game’s history, the first one to span an entire continent and the first time that a World Cup host will be at war with a competing nation. Basically: strap in.

The sheer size of the tournament changes the game for coverage. In 2022, 64 matches were played to decide the world champion. In 2026, 72 matches will be played to decide which 16 countries won’t make the last-32 round and then we have the knockouts. It’s a football all-you-can-eat buffet.

The geopolitical ripples are also extraordinary, and not just because of the US-Iran war. In Qatar, the most common criticism on my reportage was “Errr have you seen America?” And yes, I had seen America. There are issues surrounding the treatment of minorities, heat, freedom of the press, surveillance and so much more.

To which we must add the questions surrounding Fifa’s governance of the game, greed, the premiership of Gianni Infantino and the economics of a tournament that has priced out so many international travellers. This is a non-normal World Cup for myriad reasons and thus demands non-normal coverage. And so…

What is the project?

• A 7,200-mile road trip – no internal flights, all car – over 49 days from the westernmost point of the contiguous United States (Washington coast) to the easternmost point (Maine coast), watching matches live in nine different host stadiums and ending at the final.

What will I be doing?

• A series of detailed, on-the-ground features on the issues that matter, from ICE agents to public transport chaos to price gouging on tickets to the extreme heat.
• By travelling across the country, speaking to people in red and blue states, on the west coast and east coast, in host cities and in smalltown USA where the World Cup feels a long way away, I think we’re offering sharper, deeper and different coverage.
• Wider-angle match pieces, from Iranian supporters in San Francisco to watching Messi for perhaps the final time to LGBTQ+ visibility to the final itself.
• Regular newsletters sent straight to you, with progress updates, talking points and news from our reporters inside England’s training camp.
• Videos that I desperately hope will sit in the sweet spot between Alan Partridge’s From The Oasthouse and Richard Keys’ 2014 World Cup diaries. I highly recommend both.

How do I follow the journey?

• Sign up for the newsletter for free here, from which you will get all the updates.
• Sign up for a subscription to The i Paper for all of my work, all of our World Cup coverage and everything else the paper produces for a trial period of just £1 for the first three months.
• Follow me on Instagram for the videos as I slowly descend into highway madness.

Where will I be going?

The broad details, which look easier written down:

• 7,200+ miles
• 60+ driving hours
• 34 motels (obviously I’m going to end up rating these)
• 24 states. Deep breath: Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine

Who will be with me?

Just me, a hire car that I’m praying to every God holds up and a fistful of dreams. I will see familiar faces at matches and my goodness I will need them.

I’ll also meet lots of lovely locals, motel receptionists and supporters of various countries, who will all stop me going mad. This is the best bit of the project to me, telling stories with the help of everybody I meet along the way.

Other than that it’s me and the road. I’m thinking of Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley and Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari. But then neither of them had Spotify or Elis James and John Robins podcasts, so maybe better?

How am I going to stay sane?

Come back to me on that in late June. And then early July. And then late July. It’s the drive between Los Angeles and Houston that’s living in my head, because it’s the same distance as London to Morocco and I’ve got to do it in five days alongside work. Don’t ever feel sympathy for me – I love this stuff.

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