Both teams score in Champions League final for first time in eight years
Ousmane Dembélé’s 65th-minute equalizer against Arsenal (1-1) ended a remarkable streak in the Champions League: it had been eight years since both finalists scored.
When Ousmane Dembélé converted the penalty won by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia just after the hour mark in Saturday’s final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal (1-1, 65th minute), he brought to an end an unusual sequence. For eight consecutive years, at least one finalist had failed to find the net in the Champions League showpiece.
To locate a comparable scenario, one must go back to 2018, when Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 3-1 in the final. The seven preceding finals had seen one of the two teams unable to breach the opposition’s goal, with only one marker between them.
- Liverpool vs Tottenham (2019): 2-0
- Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain (2020): 1-0
- Chelsea vs Manchester City (2021): 1-0
- Real Madrid vs Liverpool (2022): 1-0
- Manchester City vs Inter Milan (2023): 1-0
- Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund (2024): 2-0
- Paris Saint-Germain vs Inter Milan (2025): 5-0
This pattern is not unprecedented in European football’s premier competition. Between 1988 and 1996, eight finals in succession saw at least one team fail to score, a sequence that mirrors the recent dry spell.
