🚨🎙️Thierry Henry on why Arsenal didn’t lose the Champions League Final to PSG, they lost it to inconsistency from the officials:
“People are talking about PSG winning the Champions League. Fine. But let’s tell the truth: Arsenal were not beaten by PSG, Arsenal were beaten by inconsistency.
You cannot tell me Kvaratskhelia gets a penalty for contact in one box and then Noni Madueke gets clipped by Nuno Mendes in extra time and suddenly we’re told to play on. Football does not have two different rulebooks. Either contact that impedes an attacker is a foul, or it isn’t.
The Madueke incident is the one that will haunt Arsenal supporters for years. He gets in front, Mendes makes contact, Madueke goes down, the referee says no penalty, VAR says no penalty. If that happens in midfield, it’s a foul every single time. But because it’s in the penalty area in a Champions League Final, everyone becomes brave and wants to ‘let the game flow.’
Then people wonder why fans get frustrated.
And don’t tell me it was one isolated incident. Arsenal had a corner taken away before half-time. Every 50-50 challenge in the second half seemed to go PSG’s way. Arsenal were accused of time-wasting and suddenly every decision felt like a punishment.
What Arsenal fans are asking for isn’t favoritism. It’s consistency.
If PSG’s penalty is a penalty, then Madueke’s is a penalty. You cannot spend all season telling players to get in front of defenders, win the position, draw contact, and then in the biggest game in club football decide the rules have changed.
The sad part is that we’ll spend years talking about PSG lifting the trophy when the real talking point should be why Arsenal were denied the opportunity to win it themselves.
For me, PSG didn’t prove they were the better team. The officials made sure we would never find out.”
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.”
Delighted to announce that I’ve been accepted into the Fellowship of the RSA, what an honour.
Very excited for the future with such an esteemed organisation and global community working together @theRSAorg
Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa (Many Spears)
Thankful and grateful to have visited Adelaide to witness the Tarnanthi Festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art in December 2025
Photograph Copyright Paul Hamilton
#aboriginal#art#photography#adelaide#australia#gallery
As part of my campaign for Mayor of London, I will be calling on the power and unity of the crypto community to help me secure this position. Let’s use the advancements of blockchain technology to shape and change the face of politics.
All will become apparent in the very near future. I hope that I can count on your support! #AM4LM