PSG's route to the 2025-26 Champions League final ahead of Arsenal showdown in Budapest

Ahead of Saturday's Champions League final against Arsenal, it is instructive that Paris Saint-Germain have taken the scenic route to the title match for the second season running.

Just like last season, Luis Enrique's team have slowly built momentum after ending outside the coveted eight spots which guarantee involvement in the tournament's round of 16.

PSG's path to Budapest has seen them come through what many perceived to be the trickier half of the draw, but they have surmounted those hurdles ahead of possibly being the second side after Real Madrid (2016-2018) to retain the Champions League in the competition's current guise.

Having come through a pair of English sides and arguably Europe's most potent attack, the Parisians seek to make history in Hungary.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at PSG's route to the Champions League final.

PSG's route to the 2025-26 Champions League final: League phase letdown

Although PSG improved on their 2024-25 league phase finish by four places, the Ligue 1 heavyweights were outside the qualification spots for the last 16.

Enrique's side won 50% of their eight matches, just as in 2024-25, but they lost fewer games in 2025-26 (two) than last season (three).

The Parisians were effectively undone by their failure to win any of their final three matches against Athletic Club (0-0), Sporting Lisbon (2-1 defeat) and Newcastle United (1-1) after recording victories in four of the first five, including a 2-1 win over Barcelona and a 7-2 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena in October.

Further league phase victories over Atalanta and Tottenham Hotspur caught the eye, especially as the Parisians scored nine across both, securing 4-0 and 5-3 triumphs.

Despite scoring 21 times in that phase, a tally only bettered by finalists Arsenal (23), Bayern and Barcelona (both 22), PSG had to settle for 11th place with 14 points, two shy of the quartet of clubs between fifth and eighth on 16: Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting and Manchester City.

PSG’s route to the 2025-26 Champions League final: Monaco scare

Playing a familiar foe in Europe can often be tricky for both, and so it proved when PSG faced off with Monaco in the play-off round for a place in the last 16.

Away in the Principality, PSG needed to overturn a two-goal deficit to win 3-2, a comeback inspired by Desire Doue's brace, with an Achraf Hakimi strike sandwiched between Doue's goals as Les Parisiens beat their 10-man hosts, who had Aleksandr Golovin dismissed just after the break.

Not learning their lesson from the previous meeting, Monaco again found themselves playing short-handed after Mamadou Coulibaly's dismissal for two yellow cards just before the hour in Paris with PSG trailing at the time.

With the side from the Principality struggling against the numerical advantage, Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in the space of six minutes to put Enrique’s side 2-1 up on the night and 5-3 up on aggregate; however, the 10 men made the closing stages nervy after levelling the match in Paris.

PSG went through, but it could have gone the other way had Monaco kept their discipline at crucial stages in the tie.

PSG’s route to the 2025-26 Champions League final: Embarrassing Chelsea

PSG blew Chelsea to smithereens with an 8-2 aggregate victory, but the story could have been entirely different.

Chelsea, then managed by Liam Rosenior, kept pace with the defending champions for much of the last-16 first leg at Parc des Princes, twice pegging back Enrique’s side to level at 2-2 until a frantic final 15 minutes.

The Blues were punished for mistakes in that period as the Ligue 1 heavyweights scored three times in the final 15; Vitinha and a Kvaratskhelia brace took the game away from the Londoners.

With spirits low, Chelsea were powerless to resist at Stamford Bridge as their Paris visitors ran roughshod over them in West London, opening a two-goal lead in the first 14 minutes through Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola before Senny Mayulu made it 3-0 on the hour.

The West Londoners remained competitive for the first 75 minutes of the tie but were ultimately undone by the final minutes in Paris, which knocked the stuffing out of them before the reverse fixture at the Bridge.

PSG’s route to the 2025-26 Champions League final: Dispatching Liverpool

A year on from eliminating Liverpool on penalties in the last 16, PSG pitted their wits against Arne Slot's side.

While last year's encounters were close affairs, the French side prevailed 4-0 on aggregate, following two 2-0 victories over the Merseyside giants.

The 2-0 scoreline in Paris flattered Liverpool, who should have conceded more than two at Parc des Princes.

Although it was not an unassailable deficit, this iteration of Slot's side faced an uphill task to overturn their disadvantage, and Enrique's side were in no mood to grant handouts, scoring two second-half goals to seal a 2-0 victory at Anfield, where Liverpool exited in a whimper.

PSG’s route to the 2025-26 Champions League final: Bayern Munich fireworks

The semi-final showdown between PSG and Bayern delivered an absolute classic, kick-starting with a breathless nine-goal thriller at the Parc des Princes.

In a chaotic first leg in Paris, Enrique's men edged a 5-4 victory thanks to braces from Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele alongside a strike from Joao Neves.

The Bavarians refused to go quietly in the French capital, fighting back with goals from Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Dayot Upamecano and Luis Diaz to keep the tie on a knife-edge.

Moving to the Allianz Arena for the reverse fixture, PSG wasted no time asserting their authority as Dembele struck in just the third minute to extend their aggregate lead.

Despite the Bavarian giants dominating late on and salvaging a 1-1 draw on the night through a stoppage-time Kane equaliser, the visitors' defence held firm under immense pressure.

A tight 6-5 aggregate triumph ultimately secured the defending champions their coveted spot in the Champions League final after an unforgettable tie.