Twenty years since the last one, and it came down to five kicks. Arsenal lost the Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw across 120 minutes in front of 61,035 in the Puskás Aréna.
Six Minutes In
We could not have asked for a better start. Marquinhos went to clear, the ball came off Leandro Trossard's shoulder, and Kai Havertz took three touches with his left foot before firing a thunderbolt into the roof of the net past Matvey Safonov. Six minutes gone in a European final and the red half of Budapest was already losing its mind.
For an hour it held. We defended the box properly, we made PSG go around us, and the game looked like it might be settled by that one moment.
The Penalty
Then, on 65 minutes, Cristhian Mosquera was judged to have fouled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia out on the right, and Daniel Siebert pointed to the spot. Ousmane Dembélé did not flinch from 12 yards.
Extra time brought its own grievance. Noni Madueke went down in the box and nothing was given, with Arteta booked for how strongly he made his case on the touchline. He had watched it back by the time he spoke to the press: "I watched it back. It can easily be a penalty."
Five Kicks
PSG went first. Gonçalo Ramos scored, Viktor Gyökeres scored. Désiré Doué scored, and then Eberechi Eze dragged his wide. David Raya kept us in it by saving from Nuno Mendes, Declan Rice made it count, Achraf Hakimi scored, Gabriel Martinelli scored, Lucas Beraldo scored.
That left Gabriel Magalhães with the fifth, and he put it over the bar. The man who has thrown his body in front of everything all season asked for that kick, and Arteta said so afterwards: "We have prepared and trained for this moment." Because the game went to extra time, the usual order of Saka, Ødegaard and Havertz was not the order we ended up with.
PSG retain the trophy, the second club this century to win it back to back and the first French side ever to do it.
What It Feels Like
Arteta was asked how he felt and gave the only honest answer available:
"Pain - that's it."
"If you are in pain, go through the pain. If you think you could have done something else, learn from it."
Premier League champions six days earlier, Champions League runners-up tonight. Both of those are true, and only one of them is any comfort right now.
Man of the Match: Kai Havertz. A goal in the sixth minute of a European final, and a night that deserved to end differently.