Arsène Wenger:
🗣️ “There was a time we had £90 million turnover and we had to pay back £22 million per year for the stadium. I couldn’t sleep because we had to qualify for the Champions League to pay back the money.”
🗣️ “We had to sell our best players. Other clubs came in with lots of money but we were on the same level from 2007 to 2016.”
This is why so many Arsenal fans will forever defend Wenger.
While rivals were spending freely, Arsenal were carrying the weight of the Emirates project on their backs. Every summer felt like survival. Every top-four finish felt like a trophy. Every season, Wenger had to replace world-class players while keeping Arsenal competitive enough to secure Champions League football.
🔴 Sold stars. 🔴 Balanced the books. 🔴 Built a world-class stadium. 🔴 Kept Arsenal among Europe's elite.
Many managers would've walked away. Wenger stayed and carried the club through its most difficult financial era.
The trophies are part of his legacy. The fact Arsenal emerged from that period stronger, richer, and ready to compete again is the other part.
Without Wenger's sacrifices, there is no Arsenal of today.
❤️🤍 Piero Hincapié:
🗣️ “Since arriving at Arsenal, I have experienced everything I dreamed of as a footballer.
I have made lifelong friends, felt genuine love from everyone around the club, and had the privilege of playing on the biggest stages in world football, including a Champions League final.
Winning the Premier League was a dream come true, and sharing those moments with my teammates and our incredible supporters made it even more special.
The love I have received from Arsenal fans is something I will never forget. From day one, they welcomed me as one of their own.
Arsenal is no longer just a club to me — it is my home.
I love this club, I love these fans, and if it were up to me, I would stay here forever.
Thank you for everything. ❤️🔴
❤️🗣️ Gabriel Magalhães on missing the decisive penalty in the Champions League final:
“I felt terrible. I felt like I had let my teammates down. For a moment, I felt worthless.
But what happened afterwards surprised me. The love and support from Arsenal fans was beyond anything I could have imagined.
The staff, my teammates, everyone at the club stood by me. But the fans were incredible. They bought my shirt, shared messages of support, created pictures and videos, and flooded social media with encouragement.
They reminded me that mistakes are part of football and that one moment does not define a person or a season.
I will never forget the love you showed me during one of the hardest moments of my career.
Thank you, Arsenal family. ❤️
📲 William Saliba on Instagram: “We don’t let one moment define the journey. This season has shown how far we’ve come together - the work, the belief, the unity in this team. After 22 years… bringing the league back where it belongs means everything. We go again next season - stronger and hungrier. We are coming for more ❤️💪”
You can buy referees, you can fix matches, you can hide agent fees, you can breach all FFP rules but you can't buy either loyalty or respect because they are not given. THEY ARE EARNED
🚨 Mesut Özil Slams Referee After Arsenal's Controversial Champions League Final Defeat
🗣️: "I have watched football for many years, and I understand that referees can make mistakes. Nobody expects perfection. But tonight, it genuinely felt like Arsenal were fighting against more than just PSG.
The incident involving Madueke was a clear penalty for me. In any other game, anywhere else on the pitch, that contact is given as a foul immediately. I struggle to understand how the referee saw it and decided there was nothing there. Even more surprising was the lack of intervention. Moments like that can completely change a final.
What frustrated me most was the consistency. Every important decision seemed to go against Arsenal. Small fouls were given one way but not the other. Challenges that deserved bookings were ignored. Every 50-50 call appeared to favour PSG. As a player, that is incredibly difficult because you begin to feel that no matter what you do, the decisions are not going your way.
A Champions League final should be decided by the players, the coaches and the football itself, not by controversial refereeing decisions. Arsenal may not have played their best game, but they still deserved a fair opportunity to compete. When such a clear penalty is not awarded, people are always going to ask questions.
I feel sorry for the players because they worked all season to reach this stage. You can accept losing when the better team wins fairly, but it is much harder to accept when major decisions leave a cloud over the result. For me, Arsenal deserved that penalty on Madueke, and they deserved much better from the officials tonight."
Arsene Wenger after the game:
We reached the final and gave everything we had, but I cannot help feeling that the game was influenced by more than just the football. There were decisions that went against Arsenal at crucial moments, and from where I stand, two penalty incidents deserved much closer attention, especially the challenge on Saka in the second half.
I am proud of this team. They showed courage, quality, character and the fighting spirit that Arsenal supporters expect. When you lose a Champions League final, it is painful. When key moments leave you with questions, the disappointment is even greater.
Congratulations to PSG on winning the trophy. But I believe Arsenal deserved the opportunity to compete on equal terms until the very end.
To the players: keep your heads high. Great teams are built through moments like this. Use the pain, learn from it, and come back stronger.
COYG ❤️
#PSGARS #UCLFinal
🚨🎙️Wayne Rooney: “Arsenal have been robbed tonight” 🤯
Rooney 🗣️ “I’ll be completely honest, Arsenal were absolutely robbed tonight, there is no other way to put it. You look at that foul on Noni Madueke in the box; it’s a stonewall, 100% clear penalty. How the referee or VAR hasn't given that is beyond me, and it completely changes the dynamic of a Champions League final.
But for me, the moment that truly gave it away the moment you knew exactly what the referee was doing was that halftime whistle. To blow the whistle right as Arsenal are literally standing there about to take a corner? I’ve played this game a long time, and you rarely see that unless there’s a blatant bias. It was shocking, and it set the tone for everything that followed.
In the second half, it became a totally different game, and not because of the football. The referee made absolutely sure that every single 50/50 call, every little nudge, and every major decision went straight to PSG. It completely killed Arsenal’s momentum. But to be fair, I’m not even surprised. We saw the exact same story when they played Bayern Munich earlier in the tournament. The officiating was heavily skewed then, and it’s happened again on the biggest stage.
PSG might be lifting the trophy, but they cannot honestly look at themselves in the mirror and be proud of the way they’ve won this final. To win the biggest prize in club football like that? It leaves a horrible taste. Arsenal deserved so much more tonight.”
Hand on heart, I dont feel sad at all. Im so fucking proud of this group. Won us a PL after 22 years and took us to a UCL final. Kings who will be remembered forever. 99% of Europe would want our season.
Thank you Mikel and Thank you Arsenal.
I recognise my football club again.